ALASKA 

ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 


ALASKA 

ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ITS  RESOURCES  ITS  OPPORTUNITIES 


By  CHARLES  R.  TUTTLE 

Author  "Our  JVorthland/'  "The  Golden  North/'  etc.,  Meteoro- 
logical Observer,  Canadian  Government  Expedition 
to  Hudson's  Bay  and  Straits,  I884. 


ILLUSTRATED 


SEATTLE,  WASH. 

FRANKLIN  SHUEY  &  CO.,  PUBLISHERS 

1914. 


mi^^ 


3U8bS 


Copyright,  1914 
By  Franklin  Shuey  &  Co. 


Feom  the 

Press  of  Lowman  &  Hanford  Co., 

Seattle,  Wash. 


A  3£r^ 


TO 

THE  PIONEERS  OF  ALASKA 

AND 

THEIR  FRIENDS  IN  TIME  OF  NEED 

OF 

SEATTLE,  WASHINGTON 

THIS  COMPILATION  OF  THE  RESOURCES 

AND  OPPORTUNITIES  OF  THE 

GREAT  NORTH  COUNTRY 

IS 

RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED 


(9) 


INTRODUCTION 

THIS  work  in  no  sense  whatever  is  a  promotion  effort 
on  behalf  of  Alaska,  or  any  section,  town  or  enter- 
prise thereof,  or  of  any  special  place,  city  or  interest. 
Its  author  and  compiler  enjoys  no  material  interest  in 
Alaska.  He  is  not  concerned  in  any  way  with  any  of  the 
resources  or  enterprises  covered  by  the  following  pages, 
beyond  what  the  average  citizen  of  the  State  of  Washington 
naturally   should  entertain   towards   them. 

The  object  in  hand  is  to  supply  readers, — the  people 
generally — of  all  lands  where  this  language  is  read  and 
spoken,  with  a  plain  descriptive  account,  practical  and 
useful,  of  ^^ Alaska;  its  Meaning  to  the  World:  its  Re- 
sources; its  Opportunities ," — of  Alaska  which  is  the  newest 
and  richest  undeveloped  country  of  the  earth — of  Alaska,  a 
wonderland,  because  its  vast  and  diversified  resources  are 
as  yet  in  the  morning  of  discovery.  Seventeen  years  ago 
we  knew  practically  nothing  about  Alaska.  Today  we 
only  know  that  its  greatness  in  many  things  is  attracting 
the  attention  of  the  world  in  such  a  way  that  more  than 
three  hundred  million  people  desire  to  know  more  of  the 
extent  of  this  greatness. 

This  situation  is  embodied  in  an  almost  universal 
demand  for  such  a  volume  as  this,  in  the  face  of  which 
there  was  not  to  be  found  in  a  bookshop  or  library  of 
the  whole  land,  a  complete  account  of  the  Alaska  of 
today.  This  condition  is  due  to  the  fact  that  so  much 
has  been  accomplished  for  this  great  new  territory,  within 
it,  and  outside  its  boundaries,  during  the  last  past  fifteen 
years ;  and  to  the  other  fact  that  a  vast  amount  of  oflScial 
data,  and  other  documentary  materials  have  so  quickly 
accumulated,  that  there  has  not  been  time  enough  at  the 

(11) 


12  INTRODUCTION 

dispasnl  of  even  an  experienced  compiler  to  flux  them 
into  a  natural  compound.  Moreover,  a  natural  point-of- 
view-summit  had  not  been  attained,  until  the  enactment  of 
important  laws  on  behalf  of  Alaska,  by  the  Congress  of 
the  I'nited  States,  within  a  few  weeks,  supplied  one  of 
sufficient  departure-significance,  to  provide  the  necessary 
datum  for  such  a  work. 

Thus,  valuable  historic  and  descriptive  data  was  found 
to  be  piled  up  in  various  places,  in  1914,  in  such  an  un- 
classified condition  as  to  over  challenge  the  energies  of  the 
most  resolute  compiler.  The  writer  faced  the  task,  in  an 
attempt  to  complete  the  work  within  time  limits  which 
precluded  the  possibilities  of  needful  literary  finish.  He 
has  been  compelled  to  be  content,  as  the  reader  will  have 
to  be  satisfied,  or  otherwise,  with  a  plain,  connected 
elaboration  of  subjects,  much  of  it  in  the  terminology  of 
ofticial  and  other  reports  and  documents,  or  condensations 
of  them,  by  writers  whose  names,  in  many  cases,  could  not 
readily  be  ascertained.  On  account  of  this  latter  condition, 
I,  doubtless  have  given  personal  credit  for  important  facts 
where,  strictly  speaking,  credit  was  not  due,  and  uninten- 
tionally withheld  it  when  it  was  due.  Nearly  the  whole 
mass  of  data  gathered  had  to  be  regarded  as  common 
property,  and  this  particularly  is  the  case  with  govern- 
ment official  reports,  as  well  as  compilations  made  from 
them,  by  editors  working  for  chambers  of  commerce,  com- 
mercial clubs,  and  so  on. 

My  aim  has  been  to  credit  writers  and  authors  rather 
than  organizations  which  have  put  out  these  publications, 
but  in  many  cases,  as  stated,  this  course  was  found  to  be 
impossible.  Nevertheless  credits  and  quotation  marks 
appear  with  great  frequency  on  the  following  pages. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  mention,  specifically,  any 
considerable  number  of  the  sources  of  information  from 
which  the  facts  appearing  on  the  following  pages  have 
been  drawn,  but  three  or  four  classes  of  these  demand  at- 
tention here.     First,  there  are  the  Geological  Survey,  and 


INTRODUCTION  13 

agricultural  reports  of  the  Federal  Government ;  the  reports 
of  the  Department  of  the  Interior;  the  reports  of  Prof. 
C.  C.  Georgeson,  Director  of  the  Government  Experimental 
Stations  in  Alaska,  and  many  others  of  a  similar  nature. 
In  the  second  place,  and  of  indispensable  importance  is 
the  voluminous  report  of  the  Kailroad  Commission,  a  great 
part  of  which  I  have  appropriated  almost  bodily.  Then, 
the  annual  report  of  1913,  of  Governor  Strong  of  Alaska, 
a  document  of  great  value  which  should  be  read  and 
studied  by  the  people  generally.  The  excellent  publications 
of  the  Alaska  bureau  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce, 
notably  the  valuable  compilation  of  Capt.  R.  H.  Stretch, 
assistant  secretary  of  this  bureau,  have  been  of  great  service 
in  my  labors.  The  files  of  the  Seattle  newspapers  also 
have  contributed  very  much  important  data.  To  specifically 
enumerate  further  would  be  in  the  nature  of  listing  scores 
and  even  hundreds  of  sources  of  information  without 
which  this  effort  would  not  have  been  carried  to  anything 
like  completeness. 


Dr.  Hudson  Stuck,  archdeacon  of  the  Yukon,  whose 
"Ten  Thousand  Miles  with  a  Dog  Sled"  is  a  valuable  con- 
tribution to  Alaska  travel-literature,  says  that  there  is  no 
man  living  who  knows  the  whole  of  Alaska,  or  who  has 
any  right  to  speak  about  the  whole  of  Alaska.  He  says 
that  when  a  man  from  Nome  writes  of  Alaska  he  means 
his  part  of  Alaska,  the  Seward  Peninsula;  that  when  one 
in  Cordova  or  Valdez  speaks  of  Alaska,  he  means  the 
Prince  William  Sound  country;  that  when  a  man  from 
Juneau  talks  of  Alaska  he  means  the  southeastern  coast. 
"Alaska,"  he  says,  "is  not  one  country  but  many.  With 
different  climates,  different  resources,  different  problems, 
different  populations,  different  interests, — what  is  true  of 
one  part  of  it  is  often  grotesquely  untrue  of  another  part." 
These  pertinent  observations  ]>lain]y  show  the  value 
of  a  compilation  of  the  writings  and  sayings  of  all  who 


11  INTRODUCTION 

liMVf  hmvcUmI  ill  Alaska  and  who  have  ti-uthfullj  written 
ami  talked  about  the  country,  over  a  production  exclusively 
drawn  from  the  actual  knowledge  of  any  one  person,  and 
they  indicate  very  correctly  the  modest  genius  of  this  vol- 
ume, which  attempts  to  assemble  the  writings  and  reports 
of  all  who  have  contributed  comments  of  value  on  the  great 
north  country.  This  feature  of  our  work  is,  in  this  par- 
ticular case,  a  demonstration  of  the  superior  utility  of  a 
compilation  as  against  the  observations  of  any  one  traveler 
in  Alaska, 


In  this  connection,  I  should  not  fail  to  acknowledge 
on  behalf  of  the  people  of  Alaska  and  the  public  at  large, 
the  splendid  services  w^hich  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce and  its  Alaska  bureau,  the  other  semi-commercial 
and  social  organizations  of  Seattle,  the  Seattle  press,  and 
other  agencies  have  performed  in  the  cause  of  Alaska. 

In  this  hurried  effort,  the  writer's  knowledge  of  the 
northland,  gained  by  years  of  service  as  a  traveler,  ex- 
plorer, meteorological  and  topographical  reporter  in  the 
higher  latitudes  proved  of  some  value,  but  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  no  one  person,  in  any  complete  sense  is 
the  author  of  this  volume.  While  it  is  the  product  of  the 
writer  as  a  compiler,  it  has  many  authors,  whose  writings 
have  been  somewhat  loosely  thrown  together,  in  an  effort 
which  may  be  esteemed  as  more  or  less  successful,  in 
providing  the  public  with  a  reliable  volume  on  Alaska, 
such  as,  it  is  believed,  the  present  demand  calls  for. 

Unimportant  errors  may  have  found  a  temporary 
lodgement  on  the  following  pages,  but  if  so,  these  will 
be  eliminated  in  subsequent  editions,  besides,  additional 
matter  will  be  provided  from  year  to  year,  as  editions 
of  this  volume  succeed  each  other,  keeping  it  up  to  date 
in  all  respects. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

And  now  Alaska,  and  the  whole  Pacific  Northwest 
enter  upon  a  new  era  of  development.  Nature  and  human 
skill  once  more  unite  in  the  rounds  of  eternal  progress, 
this  time  on  a  higher  plane  of  economies  than  ever  before. 
That  the  National  Government  of  the  United  States,  this 
early  in  the  twentieth  century,  should  take  a  direct  hand 
in  the  management  of  industrial  developments,  was  to 
have  been  expected  from  the  economic  agitation  of  the 
past  quarter  of  a  century.  The  trusts  have  been  built  and 
are  beginning  to  decay.  It  is  in  demonstration  that  the 
public  service  ever  is  menaced  by  private  monopoly.  No 
more  wholesome  doctrines  of  industrial  economy  can  be 
found  than  those  which  appear  in  the  recent  Annual 
Keport  to  the  President  of  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  in  his  references  to  conditions  in  the  West 
and  Northwest. 

Alaska,  in  its  present  attitude  and  condition,  provides 
the  United  States  Government  with  an  economic  oppor- 
tunity, such  as  no  nation  of  the  earth  has  been  afforded 
in  all  the  history  of  mankind.  Students  of  the  ''signs  of 
our  times"  believe  that  the  present  administration  will 
succeed  in  inaugurating  and  carrying  out  policies  in  that 
new  territory  of  limitless  resources  which  many  nations 
jjrofltably  will  emulate.  Readers  of  this  volume  are  cordial- 
ly invited  to  join  us  in  watching  the  wonderful  growth  of 
Alaska,  on  new  lines,  during  the  next  few  years. 

JUNE^  1914. 

Seattle^  Wash.  Chas.  R.  Tuttle. 


INSPIRATION  POINT  ON  THE  W.  P.  &  Y.  R. 

Photo    by    Curtis    tV:    Miller.  Courtesy    W.    P.    &•    Y.    R. 


SPIRIT  MOUNTAIN  AND  COPPER  RIVER  ON  C.  R.  &  N.  RY. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  Subject  Page 

INTRODUCTION    9 

1  NORTHWEST    TREND    OF    PROGRESS 27 


The  Makch  of  Natural  and  Human  Progress  in  a  North- 
west Course — Interrelationship  of  Natural  and  Pur- 
posive Industry — Alaska  and  the  Panama  Canal — 
The  Evolution  of  Natural  Resources — Nature's  Sup- 
ply Never  Failing — Climatic  Influences  on  the  Evolu- 
tion OF  Civilization— Conquest  of  Alaska  by  Thermal 
Oceanic  Currents. 


THE  NEW  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY 38 


The  Discovery  of  Alaska  and  its  Resources  Resolved  to 
the  Beginning  of  a  Nevp  Era  of  Prosperity  for  the  Pa- 
cific Northwest — The  Coming  Supremacy  of  the  Pa- 
cific— Commercial  Importance  of  the  United  States  on 
the  Eve  of  Great  Increase — Need  of  a  Stronger  Pacific 
Navy — New  National  Government  Requirements. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES 44 


Brief  Summary  of  Natural  Resources — Mineral  Wealth 
— Vast  Area — Gold,  Silver,  Copper,  Coal  and  Other 
Deposits — Fishery  Resources — The  Wealth  Already 
Produced — A  First  Short  View  of  the  Great  Country. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— GOLD 50     __, 


Minerals  of  Alaska — Discovery  and  Development — Gold 
Output  to  Date — History  of  Prospecting — The  Trail 
Making  Period — Mining  Camps  the  Beginnings  of 
Cities — Placer  Mining  the  Poor  Man's  Method — Preci- 
ous Metals  Discoveries  Still  in  Progress. 

(17) 


Ij!  CONTENTS 

Chapter                              Subject                                                         Page 
^6  VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COPPER 59 


Copper  Discoveky  axo  Development — Locations  of  Copper 
AND  White  Rivers — Discovery  of  the  Nicolat  Mine — 
The  Bonanza  Mine  on  Kennicott  Creek — A  Wonderful 
Shipment — The  Future  Great  Copper  Country  of  the 
Earth. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— COAL 65 


Alaska  Coal  Fields — The  High  Grade  Coal  Deposits — The 
Lignite  Areas — Description  of  the  Coal  Wealth  of 
Alaska — Future  Cheap  Coal  for  Alaska  Homes  and 
Factories — Coal  Production — Deposits  Estimated  at 
150,000,000,000  Tons. 


VALUE    OF   ALASKA— FISHERIES 70 


Vast  Fishery  Wealth  of  Alaska — Statistics  from  the  Re- 
port OF  THE  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor — The 
Most  Extensive  Cod  Fishery  Banks  in  the  World — Ex- 
tent of  the  Present  Industry — Varieties  of  Salmon. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— SEALS  AND  FURS 74 


The  Seal  Herds — Leasing  System  Abolished — Statistics  of 
Output — Furs — A  Declining  Industry — Value  of  Pro- 
duct. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— AGRICULTURE 76 


The  Future  Great  Producth'f:  Industry — Sources  of  In- 
formation— Progress  of  Land  Surveys — Provisions  of 
THE  Homestead  Law  —  Farming  Conditions  —  Cattle, 
Sheep  and  Horses — Work  of  the  Experimental  Sta- 
tions— Reindeer  Industry. 


CONTENTS  19 

Chapter                              Subject                                                         Page 
10  GRAINS,   GRASSES,   VEGETABLES,   FRUITS 82 


Good  Success  with  Oats,  Barley  and  Rye — Favorable  In- 
dications OF  Experiments  with  Wheat — Rapid  Growth 
and  Abundance  of  Grasses — Abundant  Growth  of 
Timothy — Vegetables  a  Splendid  Crop  in  Nearly  all 
Sections — Extensive  Varieties  of  Potatoes — Wild  and 
Cultivated  Fruits  Abundant. 


11  FORESTS  OF  ALASKA 87 


Sources  of  Information — The  Great  Forest  Reserves — The 
Present  Lumber  Product — An  Important  Wealth-Pro- 
ducing Industry. 


12  WILD    GAME    ANIMALS 90 


Source  of  Information — Moose  of  Alaska — The  Caribou—^ 
Mountain  Sheep  and  Goat — Variety  of  Bears — The 
Walrus — Wild  Game  Birds. 


13  FLOWERS,  BIRDS    AND    INSECTS 94 


Land  of  Flowers,  Ferns  and  Mosses — Great  Variety  of 
Beautiful  Flowers — Multitudes  of  Birds  Enliven 
Forest  and  Plain — Insects. 


14  THE    ALASKA   OF   TODAY 98 


Population  —  Transportation  —  Territorial  Legislature — 
The  Future  of  Alaska — Farming — Lack  of  Available 
Markets — Agricultural  Capabilities  of  Alaska — Aids 
TO  Navigation — Labor  Conditions — The  Coal  Lands — 
Public  Schools — Water  Powers — Public  Health — The 
Legislature — Commerce — Mail  Service. 


15  CLIMATE  AND   RESOURCES 117 


Alaska  in  the  North  Temperate  Zone — The  Temperature 
Records  of  the  Season  in  Various  Localities — Cli- 
matic Districts — Retarding  and  Advancing  Glaciers — 
Mineral  and  Other  Resources — Summary  of  Alaskan 
Productions — Agricultural  Lands — The  Water  Pow- 
ers. 


20  CONTENTS 

Chapter                              Subject                                                         Page 
16  THE    TRANSPORTATION    ISSUE 130 


The  Alaska  Road  Commission  and  its  Good  Work — The 
Land  RotrrE  from  Fairbanks  to  Nome — The  Alaska 
Railroad  Commission — The  Beginning  of  a  New  De- 
parture— Work  and  Recommendations  of  the  Commis- 
sion— The  Commission  Tells  the  World  of  the  Great 
Value  of  Alaska — Transportation  Development  up  to 
1913 — The  New  Order. 


17  TOPOGRAPHY  AND  TRANSPORTATION  ROUTES 137 


Topography — The  Arctic  Portion  of  Alaska — The  Terri- 
tory South  of  the  Endicott  Range — The  Pacific  Moun- 
tain System — The  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  Valleys — 
Open  Bottom  Lands  and  Gently  Rolling  Uplands — 
The  Mighty  Rivers  and  Basins — The  Harbors — Routes 
OF  Travel. 


,/  18   J  STUDY  OF  RAILWAY  ROUTES 142 


Work  of  the  Railroad  Commission  of  Alaska — Its  Labors 
AND  Conclusions — A  Summary  of  the  Several  Pro- 
posed Routes — Important  Hints  to  Those  Intending  to 
Engage  in  Alaskan  Industry  and  Business. 


19  SOLVING  THE   TRANSPORTATION   PROBLEM 150 


An  Educational  Campaign  to  Enlighten  the  World  and 
Awaken  Congress — Light  Beginning  to  Dawn — A  Re- 
bellion of  Loyal  Earnestness — The  Oppression  of  De- 
lays— Breaking  Down  Opposing  Barriers — Secretary 
Lane's  Able  Report — President  Wilson's  First  Mes- 
sage ON  Alaska. 


20  WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION 161 


Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  Establishes  a  School  on 
Alaskan  Resources  at  the  National  Capital — A  Sig- 
nal Victory  for  Alaska — The  Famous  Railway  Law 
OF  1914 — The    Beginning  of  a  New  Era. 


CONTENTS  21 

Chapter                              Subject                                                         Page 
CELEBRATING   THE   RAILWAY  VICTORY 172 


'C3' 


Rejoicings  in  the  Pacific  West  Over  the  Passage  of  the 
Government  Railway  Law — Expressions  of  Approval 
BY  THE  Railway  and  Marine  News;  J.  E.  Chilberq, 
President  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Other  Leading  Business  Men — Series  of  Celebrations 
— Short   History   of  the  Bill. 


22  NATIONAL    GOVERNMENT'S    PROGRAM 186 


Vigorous  Report  of  Secretary  Lane — The  Commission  Form 

of    GrOVERNMENT    FOR    ALASKA    RECOMMENDED — An    IMPOB- 

^tant  Document  Filled  with  Valuable  Information — 
How  Alaska  is  Governed — How  it  Should  be  Regulated 
— Concentration  of  Povteb  and  Authority  Recommend- 
ed. 


23  GOVERNMENT'S    PROGRAM— COAL    LANDS 202 


More  Liberal  Policy  Regarding  Coal  Claims — End  of  the 
Controversy  Which  Locked  up  Alaska  Resources — Na- 
ture OF  THE  Forestry  Troubles — Forestry  Domination 
ON  THE  Decline  and  Industrial  Progress  Reviving — A 
Similar  Plan  fob  Idle  Water  Powers. 


24  '  SEATTLE-ALASKA     PROGRAM 208 


Seattle's  Gains — Importance  of  Visits  of  Secretary  Lane 
and  Secretary  Redfield  to  Seattle — Activity  of  the 
Railway  Engineering  Board  —  Prospective  Nitrate 
Plants — What  the  New  Era  Will  Produce — Phe- 
nomenal Growth  of  Seattle — Program  for  General 
Developments — The  Seattle  and  Alaska  of  the  Near 
Future. 


25  PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915 218 


March  of  Empire  from  Europe  to  America,  and  from  the 
East  to  the  West  of  America — Near  Future  Rise  of 
the  West  and  Alaska — The  Commercial  Conquest  of 
THE  Pacific  to  Engage  the  Friendly  Energies  of 
Japan,  China  and  America — The  Rush  to  Alaska  in 
1915   Predicted. 


22  CONTENTS 

Chapter                             Subject                                                      Page 
26  THE  LID  ON  AND  THE  LID  OFF  POLICIES 228 


Pkosperity  ok  the  Gkkat  PacH'IC  Northwest  Wholly 
Dependent  Upon  the  Attitude  of  Congress — Attitude 
OF  THE  East — The  Shout  Sighted  Policy  of  Eastern  In- 
terests— Continuation  of  the  Educational  Campaign 
OF  THE  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commeece  Much  Needed. 


27  THE  GREAT  YUKON  VALLEY 234 


The  Yukon  and  the  Kuskokwim — Inland  Navigation 
Routes — Mail  Service  Summer  and  Winter — Time  and 
Distances — The  Commerce  of  Interior  Alaska — Tables 
of  Distance. 


28  GOLD  DREDGING  A  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY 243 


Placer  Mining  Advancing  From  the  Pick  and  the  Shovel 
to  the  Dredge  Machine — Great  Auriferous  Gravel 
Beds  Avpait  the  Touch  of  Capital — The  Kenai  Penin- 
sula With  Seward  as  its  Metropolis  Likely  to  be  the 
Scene  of  Great  Dredging  Enterprises  in  the  Near  Fu- 
TXJRE — Profitable  Opportunity  for  Many  Millions. 


29  SCENIC    ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN 251 


Wonders  of  the  New  Northland — ^Newness  of  Alaska — 
Classification  of  Glaciers — Raptures  of  the  General 
View — Scenic  Beauties  of  Southeastern  Alaska. 


30  SCENIC    GRANDEUR— SOUTHWESTERN 264 


\ 

^  The  Prince  William  Sound  Scenery — Its  Wonderful  Mag- 

nificence— Childs  and  Miles  Glaciers — The  Muir 
Glacier — Malaspina  Glacier — Mt.  St.  Elias — Lake  Mc- 
Kinley  and  Lake  Eyak — Mt.  McKinley — Cordova  and 
Seward. 


31  LAND  OF  THE  SPORTSMAN 271 


Big  and  Little  Game  of  Alaska. 


CONTENTS  23 

Chapter                              Subject                                                         Page 
32  SEATTLE    OF    TODAY 277 


Historical — Climate  and  Health — Population — Strategic 
Location  —  Commercial  Advantages  —  Industries — 
Transportation  Facilities — Its  Wonderful  Progress — 
Other  Attractions. 


33  SEATTLE-ALASKA     TRANSPORTATION 286 


Fleets  Operating  in  the  Commerce  of  Puget  Sound — The 
Principal  Steamship  Companies  Engaged  in  the  Puget 
Sound-Alaska  Trade — Routes  and  Distances — Impor- 
tance of  Dutch  Harbor  and  Prince  William  Sound  to 
Trans-Pacific  Navigation — Future  Growth  of  Seattle 
Commerce. 


34  CONCLUSION 295 


Important  Lessons  Suggested  by  This  Volume — March  of 
Material  Progress  Across  the  Continent — Latitud- 
inal and  Longitudinal  Advancement — Looking  Ahead 
— Leaving  the  Things  Behind — Opportune  Opening  of 
Alaska — Destiny  of  the  United  States — Nevp  Oppor- 
tunities— Better  Economic  Order. 


APPENDIXES 

1  NORTHERN  CANADIAN   RAILROADS 305 

2  MARKET  FOR  ALASKAN  COAL 308 

3  OFFICIAL  DIRECTORY  OF  ALASKA 312 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Subject  Between 

Pages 
Diagram  showing  Commercial  Conquest  of  the  Pacific  by 

Alaska  and  Seattle Frontispiece 

Inspiration  Point  on  the  W.  P.  &  Y.  R 16  and    17 

Spirit  Mountain  and  Copper  River  on  C.  R.  &  N.  Ry 16  and    17 

The  Hon.  Woodrow  "Wilson,  President  of  the  United  States  32  and    33 

Panning  for  Gold  near  Fairbanks,  Alaska 48  and    49 

The  Bonanza  Copper  Mine  at  Kennecott,  Alaska 48  and    49 

Hydraulic  Lift  Mining  in  Alaska 64  and    65 

Dredging  for  Gold  in  Alaska 64  and    65 

Hayfield  near  Fairbanks,  Alaska 80  and    81 

Cabbage  Patch,  Tanana  Valley,  Alaska 80  and    81 

Flower  Garden  and  Cabin,  Fairbanks,  Alaska 96  and    97 

Child's  Glacier,  on  the  Copper  River  Route 96  and    97 

Hon.  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  Governor  of  Alaska 112  and  113 

Big  Catch  of  Salmon  in  Waters  of  Alaska 128  and  129 

Seals  on  Pribilof  Islands,  Bering  Sea 128  and  129 

Along  the  Copper  River 144  and  145 

On  the  Yukon  River 144  and  145 

Water  Front  Fairbanks 160  and  161 

Government  Reindeer  Herd 160  and  161 

Hon.  James  Wickersham,  Congressional   Delegate  from 

Alaska    176  and  177 

Hon.  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of  the  Interior 192  and  193 

View  of  Wrangell,  Alaska 208  and  209 

View  of  Ketchikan,  Alaska : 208  and  209 

View  of  Sitka,  Alaska 224  and  225 

Juneau,  Capital  of  Alaska 224  and  225 

Skagway,  Alaska,  Southern  Terminus  W.  P.  &  Y.  R 240  and  241 

Cordova,  Alaska,  Southern  Terminus  C.  R.  &  N.  Ry 240  and  241 

Seward,  Alaska,  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula 256  and  257 

Street  View  of  Valdez,  Alaska 256  and  257 

Big  Game  Killed  on  Admiralty  Island 272  and  273 

Eskimo  Mothers  and  Children 272  and  273 

Forty-two  Story  L.  C.  Smith  Building,  Seattle 288  and  289 

Diagram  Showing  Wpter  Front  of  Seattle,  140  Miles  of 

Fresh  and  Salt  Water  Dockage 304  and  305 


(25) 


ALASKA 

ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Its  Resources  Its  Opportunities 


CHAPTER  I. 


NORTHWEST  TREND  OF  PROGRESS. 


The  March  of  Natural  and  Human  Progress  in  a  North- 
west Course  —  Interrelationship  op  Natural  and 
Purposive  Industry  —  Alaska  and  the  Panama 
Canal  —  The  Evolution  of  Natural  Resources  — 
Nature^s  Supply  Never  Failing  —  Climatic  Influ- 
ences ON  the  Evolution  of  Civilization  —  Conquest 
of  Alaska  by  Thermal  Oceanic  Currents. 


THE  most  potential  events  of  the  world's  progress  are 
seldom  seen  in  their  true  significance  until  long 
after  their  first  appearance.  It  will  require  a  hun- 
dred years  to  master  a  true  interpretation  of  the  completion 
of  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  new  opening  of  Alaska,  which 
invest  the  second  decade  of  the  Twentieth  Century  with 
imperishable  interest. 

Long  before  the  expiration  of  the  period  named,  the 
supremacy  of  the  world's  commerce  will  have  passed  from 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  North  Pacific  Coast 
cities,  with  Seattle  the  chief  metropolis,  will  have  outgrown 
New  York,  Boston  and  Philadelphia.  More  than  this  the 
author  predicts  that  a  great  commercial  city  will  have  risen 
at  the  head  of  Prince  William  Sound,  as  a  new  land  mark 
in  the  invincible,  northwest  march  of  human  progress, 

(27) 


28  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

Nor  is  this  optimistic  vision  of  the  future  more  than 
a  reasonable  prediction  of  the  achievements  to  be  realized 
within  the  present  century,  if  the  history  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  is  to  repeat  itself  in  the  new  incoming  era.  One 
surely  is  blind  to  the  signs  of  these  new  times,  and  deaf 
to  the  voices  everywhere  struggling  for  recognition,  who 
can  not  see  and  hear  this  approach  of  material  realization. 
The  human  race  is  marching  onward  and  upward,  in  a 
northwest  course,  erecting  at  each  turning  point,  wonder- 
ful monuments  commemorative  of  the  triumph  of  art,  sci- 
ence, discovery  and  conquest,  and  it  will  continue  in  this 
wonderful  pilgrimage  of  creative  duration  until  the  Perfect 
Day.  

The  rather  small  compass  of  this  volume  makes  it  in- 
expedient to  be  detained,  except  by  passing  observations, 
with  consideration  of  subjects  introductory  to  the  natural 
history  relationship  of  Alaska  to  the  other  portions  of  the 
continent  to  which  it  belongs.  This  relationship  becomes 
important  to  the  present  effort  because,  as  we  plainly  can 
see,  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  world  is  passing 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  In  this  progress, 
human  advancement  evidently  is  following  in  the  pathway 
of  natural  development  of  soil  and  climate. 

The  Panama  Canal,  where  for  ages  an  isthmus  con- 
necting two  great  continents  has  been  challenging  human 
skill  to  a  work  of  uniting  the  traffic  of  two  mighty  oceans, 
now  presents  to  the  world  the  most  inspiring  monument  to 
progress  ever  constructed  on  the  earth.  This  wonderful 
summit  of  human  achievements,  metaphorically  speaking, 
today  extends  its  potential  hand  along  the  west  coast  of 
the  North  American  continent,  to  that  surpassing  great 
monument  of  natural  history  achievements,  in  the  North, 
which  we  call  Alaska,  which  has  occupied  many  ages  in 
the  building, — and  thus  the  race  beholds  the  first  visible 
demonstration,  of  great  historical  significance,  of  the  truth 


NORTHWEST    TREND    OF   PROGRESS  29 

that    human    industry    supplements,    without    supplanting 
natural  process. 

Thus,  man  and  his  world  advance  and  rise  together  in 
a  procession  of  achievements  which  declare  that  the  crea- 
tion of  both  have  but  begun.  The  Panama  Canal  is  said  to 
be  finished,  but  the  creation  of  Alaska, — the  great  North 
American  Addition  to  the  northern  hemisphere — is  still  in 
the  making,  by  a  natural  process  and  progress  which  never 
will  end,  and  which  in  a  distant  future  will  resolve  it  to 
a  tropical  garden,  in  order  to  make  room  for  still  more 
northern  developments  of  natural  resources. 

Faddists  are  declaring  that  our  natural  resources  are 
becoming  exhausted,  and  that  a  day  is  approaching  when 
human  opportunities  will  have  become  so  greatly  diminished 
that  there  will  be  no  further  call  for  human  industry  in 
the  world-vineyard.  These  alarmists  should  be  reminded 
that  there  is  the  evolution  of  our  world,  ever  providing  new 
fields  for  conquest.  Seed  time  and  harvest  for  human  in- 
dustry never  will  fail,  because  the  natural  development  of 
the  physical  universe  ever  is  drawing  fresh  supplies  and 
new  opportunities  from  the  inexhaustible,  resourceful  realm 
within  it. 

Just  as  the  population  of  this  nation  has  reached  in 
excess  of  the  hundred  million  mark,  and  as  economists  have 
completed  figures  measuring  the  period  when  this  great 
family  will  have  become  numerically  doubled,  and,  even 
before  the  daAvn  of  new  natural  requirements,  the  doors 
of  Alaska,  with  its  586,400  square  miles  of  new  opportun- 
ities grandly  are  swinging  open  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  and  to  the  over-crowded  countries  of  the  world! 
Do  we  not  see  that  old  Nature  never  sleeps, — never  becomes 
weary?  The  sun  of  new  opportunities  ever  is  rising  just 
in  advance  of  the  vanguard  of  human  progress,  and  always 
in  the  direction  of  the  ever  extending  Northwest.  Natural 
history  science  bids  one  to  declare  that  before  the  Alaska 
now  at  our  doors  is  peopled  and  developed,  a  new  and  even 


30  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

jireatei-  Land  of  rromise  will  break  into  vision  just 
beyond  it. 

Tims  human  progress  ever  follows  in  the  trail  of  the 
natural  evolution  of  new  opportunities, — new  resources. 
This  dual  advancement  forever  and  forever  will  continue 
its  creative  duration.  "Waste  not,  want  not"  is  the  true 
motto  of  conservation,  but  when  conservation  becomes  a 
hobby,  hindering  the  free  use,  and  unrestrained  appropri- 
ation of  natural  bounties,  it  attributes  poverty  to  the  po- 
tentialities of  nature,  when,  in  truth,  poverty  has  no  proper 
dwelling  place  in  all  the  realms  of  the  universe.  Poverty, 
or  scarcity  is  a  libel  upon  the  inexhaustible  resources  of 
the  physical  universe,  because,  by  the  nature  of  evolution, 
the  whole  wealth  of  this  great  realm  must  appear.  And 
this  work  of  natural  evolution  is  in  the  morning  of  unfold- 
ment.  Therefore,  the  storehouses  of  physical  resources  and 
material  opportunities  are  just  beginning  to  open  their 
doors  to  the  skill  and  enterprise  of  mankind.  The  treasures 
of  Mother  Earth,  as  yet,  are  nearly  all  to  be  discovered. 
The  riches  of  the  inheritance  of  mankind  are  only  begin- 
ning to  be  revealed. 

The  potentialities  of  the  earth,  for  the  far  greater 
part,  are  still  hidden.  As  they  come  forth  in  a  clearer 
human  understanding,  discoveries  and  inventions  will  give 
us  a  new  order  of  human  life.  In  a  wonderful  way  we 
live  in  a  world  of  inexhaustible  riches  already  on  our 
every  touch,  but,  by  purposive  industi'y,  humanity  must 
creatively  discover  this  natural  wealth  in  order  to  appro- 
priate its  bounties.         

We  have  no  concern  with  the  Panama  Canal  in  this 
book,  excepting  such  introductory  references  as  may  be 
needful  to  disclose  the  wonderful  significance  of  the  com- 
pletion of  this  work,  just  as  the  mighty  resources  of  Alaska 
are  being  more  completely  revealed  and  placed  within 
reach  of  human  enterprise.  During  the  sixteenth  and  sev- 
enteenth centuries,   Spanish  explorers  urged  their  govern- 


NORTHWEST    TREND    OF   PROGRESS  31 

ment  to  dig  a  canal,  and  "'some  surveys,"  says  C.  E. 
Sanders,  "were  made,  the  earliest  in  1527  by  Cortez,  who 
was  the  first  man  to  suggest  both  the  Panama  and  Nic- 
aragua routes.  In  1768  a  Scotch  company  made  a  disas- 
trous attempt  to  settle  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  and  dig  the 
canal  across  the  Darien  route,  but  the  initial  endeavor 
entitled  to  real  consideration  was  undertaken  by  a  French 
company  under  the  leadership  of  Count  DeLesseps,  who 
had  successfully  constructed  the  Suez  Canal." 

In  1880  the  French  company  began  work  on  the  Pan- 
ama Canal.  After  devoting  nine  years  and  about 
1260,000,000  to  the  work,  the  company  failed.  In  1894  the 
company  reorganized,  made  a  second  attempt  but  again 
failed.  In  that  year  this  company  sold  its  concessions  to 
the  United  States  government.  We  all  know  what  has 
followed.  The  canal  now  is  an  accomplished  fact,  and  as 
a  result  New  York  City  is  nearly  8,000  miles,  by  water 
distance,  nearer  to  Seattle  than  before. 

Thus,  the  Pacific  has  successfully  tapped  the  commerce 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  Alaska,  the  Land  of  New  Opportun- 
ities^ is  closer  to  New  York  and  Europe,  by  water  routes, 
by  about  7,000  miles  than  Seattle  was  before  the  canal  was 
finished.  This  is  a  rolling  together  of  geographic  points 
which  appears  to  make  the  earth  much  smaller.  It  will 
require  considerable  time  to  enable  the  people  to  compre- 
hend the  full  significance  of  this  wonderful  transformation. 

But  the  end  is  not  yet.  Alaska  lies  in  the  path  of  the 
Hudson's  Bay  route  I  This  apparently  simple  statement 
challenges  the  human  mind  to  a  study  of  the  greatest 
])roblem  of  the  earth's  transportation  interests.  In  the 
high  latitudes  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  route,  where  there  is 
but  little  snowfall,  and  where  the  greatest  mountain  summits 
to  be  scaled  are  less  than  fifteen  hundred  feet  above  sea 
level,  the  land  and  water  distances  between  Yokohama 
and  Liverpool,  through  Alaska  and  Hudson's  Bay  are  only 
about  half  those  of  the  present  route  via  San  Francisco 
and  New  York. 


32  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING    TO    THE   WORLD 

Aud  still  the  end  is  not  yet!  A  distant  future  genera- 
tion will  circle  the  globe,  or  the  higher  latitudes  of  it, 
through  what  now  is  called  the  Arctic  Ocean,  and  connect 
Siberia,  and  a  still  newer  North,  with  the  countries  of 
Northern  Europe,  by  which  distances  and  vexatious  alti- 
tudes practically  will  be  annihilated.  Those  who  may 
smile  incredulously  at  this  optimistic  forecast  should  con- 
sider the  etTects  of  climate-transforming  forces  which  rise 
in  the  world's  great  equatorial  oceans. 

The  two  great  thermal  currents  which  originate,  re- 
spectively, in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Indian  Ocean, 
with  their  accompanying  warm  atmospheric  tides,  are  an- 
nually extending  habitable  soil  and  climate  northward, 
and  the  human  race  is  following  this  wonderful  advance 
with  the  loyalty  of  the  needle  to  the  magnetic  poler" 


Alaska,  then,  is  not  only  the  land  of  new  opportunities, 
— not  only  the  land  of  promise,  but  a  new  empire  of  destiny 
— the  key  to  the  new  prosperity  now  dawning  in  the 
United  Sfates. 

The  Northwest  Trend  of  human  progress,  from  a  geo- 
graphic point  of  view,  which  historically  and  physically  has 
been  observed  for  thousands  of  years,  is  in  forcible  appli- 
cation to  the  problem  connected  with  the  development  of 
the  far  northwest  of  America.  Indeed  the  whole  subject  of 
climatic  influences,  and  natural  history  phenomena,  con- 
sidered as  factors  in  the  evolution  of  the  human  race,  con- 
stitutes a  large  part  of  the  natural  and  economic  progress 
of  the  world. 

Speaking  generally,  the  trend  of  natural  history 
progress,  touching  the  changing  march  of  soil  and  climate, 
and  the  advance  of  mankind  in  response  thereto,  ever  has 
been  in  a  northwest  direction.  This  was  the  main  channel 
of  development  from  the  ancient  Assyrian,  Persian  and 
Roman  empires  to  the  rise  of  the  United  Kingdom  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  and  when  the  vanguard  of  civilization 
obtained  a  foothold  on  this  continent,  the  course  of  human 


My  f,^^ji^.^.K   C.    >r-/^^.  J 


TlIK  IIOX.  WOODIiOW  \VI1>S0N— PRKSIDKNT  OF  TIIK   IW'ITKI) 

STATES 

I'hoto   CDiiyiiKtit    by    ll;ni-is   .V    lOwinK.  t'Durlesy    (".    iT    llc'il'mT. 


NORTHWEST    TREND    OF   PROGRESS  33 

progress  found  a  new  datum  for  continuing  the  northwest 
march  of  the  ages. 

Wonderful  as  it  may  appear  to  historical  observation, 
it  nevertheless  is  true  that  in  all  this  progress  climatic  in- 
fluetices  have  combined  into  a  dominating,  directing  and 
controlling  force.  Natural  and  economic  evolution  has 
made  greater  use  of  climatic  forces  than  of  any  other 
agencies  for  the  advancement  of  the  race.  As  already 
stated,  the  two  great,  interrelated,  thermal,  oceanic  and 
atmospheric  currents,  the  one  pair  taking  its  rise  in  the 
Gulf  of  Mexico,  the  other  in  the  Indian  Ocean,  acting  in 
opposing  force  to  Polar  influences,  ever  since  climate  became 
the  order  of  natural  economy  in  our  world,  have  ruled  over 
all  life  and  health-giving  temperatures  of  the  Northern 
hemisphere. 

Coming  to  America,  we  can  see  that  the  configuration 
of  the  eastern  coast  line  of  this  continent  is  of  such  a 
nature  as  to  send  the  warmth  of  the  Gulf  Stream  to 
Northern  Europe.  Cape  Florida,  the  Peninsula  of  Nova 
Scotia  and  the  Island  of  New  Foundland  function  in  this 
service.  The  tidal  6ore  of  the  Bay  of  Fundy  and  that  of 
the  Strait  of  Canso  give  evidence  of  this.  In  addition  to 
these  land  projections,  which  prevent  the  thermal  gulf 
current  from  bathing  and  warming  the  northeastern  coast 
of  the  continent,  in  its  twice-daily  northern  flow,  the  Polar 
Stream,  rolling  down  from  Davis  Straits  and  Baffin's  Bay, 
hugs  the  eastern  shores  of  North  America,  entering  as  a 
wedge  between  the  coast  and  the  warm,  north-bound  Gulf 
Stream,  adding  to  the  momentum  which  sends  it  to  Europe. 

Because  of  these  interferences  the  northeastern  portion 
of  this  continent,  north  of  the  State  of  Maine,  is  cold,  bar- 
ren and  sterile.  It  could  not  be  otherwise,  since  it  is 
exposed  to  the  blighting  influences  of  the  Polar  Current. 
The  exceptions  to  this  rule  are  noted  in  the  cases  of  Nova 
Scotia,  and  Southern  New  Foundland,  which  receive  con- 
siderable  tidal    warmth    from    the    Gulf    Stream.      Beyond 


34  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

these  points,  however,  this  ciirreut  exercises  no  force,  until 
it  strikes  the  western  shores  of  Northern  Europe. 

Tiirninjr  from  the  easlorn  to  the  western  coast  of 
North  America,  we  meet  with  different  conditions.  What 
is  known  as  the  Japan  Current,  upon  which  the  North 
rai'itic  Coast  of  America  depends  for  its  salubrious  climate, 
is  that  part  of  the  Indian  Ocean  Stream  which  is  crowded 
through  the  passage  between  Asia  and  the  Philippine 
Islands,  and  which  passes  along  the  east  coast  of  China, 
until  it  reaches  Japan,  whence  it  is  turned  eastward  to- 
wards the  State  of  Washington,  British  Columbia  and 
Alaska. 

The  whole  of  the  south  coast  of  Alaska,  and  that  part 
of  the  west  coast  bordered  by  Bering  Sea,  receive  the  full 
benefit  of  this  thermal  Japan  Current.  This  stream  is 
more  beneficial  to  the  west  coast  of  America  than  is  the 
Gulf  Stream  to  the  eastern  coast,  for  the  reasons  that  but 
little  of  the  cold  water  of  the  Arctic  Ocean  finds  its  way 
southward,  through  the  narrow  passage  between  Siberia 
and  Alaska,  while  the  northern  portion  of  the  east  coast 
receives  the  greater  part  of  the  cold,  withering  blasts  of 
the  Polar  Current. 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  all  the  great  thermal,  oceanic 
streams  of  the  earth  naturally  are  accompanied  by  cor- 
respondingly w^arm  atmospheric  currents.  It  is  owing 
to  this  fact  that  the  warmth  of  these  currents  often  pene- 
trates mountain  passes,  traverses  inlets  or  river  valleys 
and  basins,  or  prevails  over  great  plains,  for  long  distances 
from  coast  lines.  These  are  a  few  of  the  fundamental 
principles  governing  climate  in  North  America.  They  but 
briefly  are  referred  to  in  this  place  to  provide  foundations 
for  what  later  is  to  be  said  concerning  the  climate  of 
Alaska. 

Turning  again  to  the  interesting  problem  of  the  trend 
of  human  progress,  and  that  of  natural  development,  which 
ever  precedes  it,  we  are  impressed  with  the  strange  fascina- 


NORTHWEST    TREND    OF   PROGRESS  35 

tion  of  what  in  its  day  was  called  the  "Northwest  Passage." 
In  one  way  or  another  the  Northwest  ever  has  been  the 
magnet  attracting  human  aspirations.  Natural  history 
philosophy,  if  such  a  term  is  allowable,  has  even  gone  to  the 
extreme  of  divining  an  imperceptible,  semi-revolution  of 
the  earth  from  the  northwest  to  southeast,  the  same  being 
accomplished,  as  to  its  southeastern  orbit,  in  about  a  million 
years,  the  return  orbit,  in  a  northwest  direction,  requiring 
a  like  period  of  time.  On  this  wild  and  speculative  theory, 
it  may  be  supposed  that  the  Arctic  Ocean  becomes  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico,  and  vice  versa  in  each  period  of  a  million 
years. 

These  reckless  theories  are  mentioned  here  only  be- 
cause they  serve  to  suggest  a  wonderful  problem  as  to  the 
ever-onward,  opening  course  of  natural  resources  and  human 
developments  in  the  Northivest  Course.  It  would  appear 
that  in  some  way  there  is  to  be  no  end  to  process  and 
progress  in  this  direction.  The  writer  has  visited  many 
Hudson's  Bay  Company  trading  posts  in  the  far  north, 
east  and  west,  at  which,  less  than  three  hundred  years 
ago,  there  were  few  indications  of  soil  upon  the  barren 
rock  formations.  Since  the  beginning  of  that  period,  and 
within  the  observations  of  the  successive  lives  of  the  chief 
factors  and  servants  of  this  company,  soil,  vegetation  and 
forests  have  appeared,  and  now,  where  less  than  three 
hundred  years  ago,  only  naked  rock  was  visible,  the  suc- 
cessors of  these  former  traders  in  the  far  North  are 
cutting  timber,  "whipping"  it  into  lumber,  and  building 
commodious  dwellings  from  this  product.  This  is  a  most 
wonderful  transformation. 

That  the  continent,  as  to  its  soil  and  habitable  capac- 
ities is  extending  northwestward,  and  has  been  experiencing 
this  growth  for  thousands  of  years,  there  no  longer  is  room 
for  doubt.  Scientific  observations  even  have  established 
the  measurement  of  this  natural,  annual  development.  In 
some  way  the  never  ending  procession  of  human  progress 
appears  to  girdle  the  earth,  always  heading  in  a  northwest 


36  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

direction.  It  is  many  thousands  of  years  since  this  climate- 
directed  progress  began,  but  it  yet  is  in  full  march.  When- 
ever the  race  in  the  vanguard  appeared  to  be  at  the  end 
of  its  wonderful  pathway  of  resources,  this  highway  of 
progress  has  opened  new  doors  and  revealed  new  fields 
of  industry,  just  beyond  existing  human  endeavors.  But 
the  geographic  course  never  is  changed. 

That  there  is  rising  a  habitable  land  of  plenty  just  be- 
yond Alaska  there  can  be  no  doubt.  History  declares  that 
even  before  the  natural  resources  and  riches  of  this  great 
new  land  of  Alaska  are  fully  explored  and  developed  the 
"Newer  Canaan"  will  appear.  Nature  is  sure  to  maintain 
a  strong  lead  over  purposive  human  industry,  ever  providing 
new  fields  for  conquest.  The  race  need  feel  no  anxiety  on 
the  score  of  exhausted  resources.  There  is  the  evolution — 
the  growth  and  unfoldment  of  the  earth — in  some  way  not 
yet  fully  apprehended  by  man,  which  cannot  fail  in  its  seed- 
time and  harvest.  There  is  the  procession  or  evolution  of 
natural  resources  as  well  as  that  of  human  progress,  and, 
until  human  understanding  is  unfolded  to  comprehend  the 
problem,  as  yet  unsolved,  humanity  confidently  may  forge 
ahead  in  a  Northwest  direction,  just  as  it  has  done  for  many 
thousands  of  years  of  its  past,  feeling  assured  that  new 
fields  of  natural  bounty  will  ever  and  anon  open  to  it,  a 
few  points  north  of  the  always  rising  and  never  setting  sun 
of  human  advancement. 


It  is  true  that  not  until  very  recently  have  the  people 
of  the  United  States  acquired  any  considerable  knowledge 
of  the  North  country.  During  the  period  of  Russian  occu- 
pancy of  Alaska,  only  the  Russians  and  the  Scotch  knew 
anything  of  the  far  North  and  its  resources.  The  latter, 
as  oflScers  and  traders  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company,  the 
trading  posts  of  which  extend  above  and  below  the  Arctic 
Circle,  and  throughout  the  sub-Arctic  regions,  from  the 
North  Atlantic  to  Alaska,  had  gained  a  wide  experimental 


NORTHWEST    TREND    OF   PROGRESS  37 

knowledge  of  the  land;  while  Russians,  occupying  military 
and  missionary  posts  in  Alaska,  as  well  as  those  engaged 
in  the  fur  and  seal  trade,  became  acquainted  with  its  won- 
derful phenomena. 

Hence,  the  ''Seward  Purchase"  was  either  ridiculed 
or  allowed  to  pass  unnoticed  in  this  country.  Nevertheless, 
the  people  began  to  be  attracted  to  the  new  Territory  by 
the  discovery  of  gold  in  great  quantities  in  the  adjoining 
British  Territory  of  Yukon,  in  1897.  Soon  after,  important 
precious  metals  discoveries  were  announced  in  Alaska 
proper.  It  was  then  that  the  material  development  of  the 
new  country  began  in  earnest.  A  splendid  record  of  prog- 
ress had  been  achieved  by  the  close  of  1913,  the  details  of 
which  are  given  elsewhere  in  this  volume. 

Now,  in  a  great  measure,  what  are  called  the  "draw- 
backs" of  Alaska  are  in  reality  the  guarantees  of  its  future 
greatness.  This  particularly  is  true  of  its  so-called  "severe" 
climate.  History  shows  us  that  the  highest  northern  lati- 
tudes, wherever  Christian  civilization  prevails,  have  devel- 
oped the  most  advanced  races  of  mankind,  and  this  is  true 
in  respect  of  the  mental,  moral,  physical  and  material  as- 
pects of  human  industry.  That  the  millions  who,  in  a  near 
future  generation  will  occupy  the  newly  up-lifted  land  of 
Alaska  will  present  a  higher  type  of  manhood  and  woman- 
hood than  America  has  yet  given  to  the  world,  there  need 
be  no  doubt. 

Not  only  may  this  be  expected,  but  the  ground-work 
upon  which  Alaskan  society,  morally  and  economically,  is 
being  constructed  presages  a  far  more  satisfactory  social 
state  than  now  exists  in  any  of  the  states  of  the  Union. 
The  great  interest  of  transportation,  and  the  traffic  trade, 
which  are  foundational  institutions  in  any  new  country, 
happily  have  become  the  charge  of  the  national  government, 
in  such  a  way  that  the  railroads,  as  to  construction,  opera- 
lion  and  management,  will  become  and  continue  govern- 
mental, industrial  enterprises  on  behalf  of  the  people  of  the 
whole  Nation. 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE   NEW   ERA    OF    PROSPERITY. 


The  Discovery  of  Alaska  and  its  Resources  Resolved  to 
THE  Beginning  of  a  New  Era  of  Prosperity  for  the 
Pacific  Northwest — The  Coming  Supremacy  of  the 
Pacific — Commercial  Importance  of  the  United 
States  on  the  Eve  of  Great  Increase — Need  of  a 
Stronger  Pacific  Navy — New  National  Government 
Requirements.        

THIS  new  volume,  by  its  title,  is  significant  of  a  dis- 
covery of  far  greater  importance  than  that  of  Alaska 
itself. 

Bering,  the  Dane,  acting  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of 
Peter  the  Great  of  Russia,  discovered  this  Great  New  North- 
land  early  in  the  second  quarter  of  the  Eighteenth  Century. 
This  may  be  called  the  first  discovery  of  Alaska. 

Speaking  figuratively,  Alaska  may  be  said  to  have 
been  discovered  a  second  time,  when,  in  1867,  this  Wonder- 
land passed,  for  a  money  consideration  of  only  $7,200,000, 
under  the  protection  of  the  flag  of  the  United  States,  by 
what  historically  is  known  as  the  ''Seward  Purchase."  It 
certainly  was  discovered  a  third  time,  by  the  whole  world, 
in  1897-98,  when  phenomenally  rich  gold  deposits  were  un- 
covered in  the  bottoms  and  valleys  of  its  creeks  and  rivers 
and  upon  its  rugged  mountain  slopes. 

But  its  real  discovery  was  not  achieved  until  1914,  and 
not  heralded  until  the  appearance  of  this  work.  This 
fourth,  and  most  potential  of  all  the  aspects  of  the  dis- 
covery of  Alaska,  now  awakens  the  consciousness  of 
mankind  to  a  knowledge  of  the  notable  fact  that  Alaska 

(38) 


THE  NEW  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY  39 

is  the  land  of  destiny, — that  its  development  so  grandly 
begun  in  1914,  speedily  is  to  realize  for  this  nation, — for 
all  its  people,  and  particularly  for  the  Pacific  Coast  States, 
a  grand  new  era  of  material,  physical,  mental,  ethical 
and  socially  economic  prosperity. 


Alaska  is  to  become  great  by  making  the  nation  of 
which  it  constitutes  more  than  a  fifth  part  grandly  greater. 

By  what  we  properly  may  call  Divine  Providence,  and 
the  instrumentality  of  a  wise  Federal  Government,  Alaska 
and  the  Panama  Canal  are  made  to  join  their  forces  and 
uses  probably  to  achieve  for  the  Pacific  Ocean  supremacy  in 
and  over  the  world's  commerce. 

The  evolution  of  these  achievements  cannot  fail  to 
transform  the  economic  status  of  the  United  States  from 
discord  to  harmony,  and  from  a  condition  of  augmenting 
poverty,  and  want,  in  many  quarters,  to  a  state  of  peace 
and  prosperity  in  all  sections  of  the  country  and  among 
all  classes,  provided  a  skilful  administration  of  government 
controls  the  progress. 


Equally  with  the  great  interests  of  climate,  soil  and 
general  resources  of  Alaska,  the  surpassing  problems  of 
transportation  and  commerce  naturally  rise  into  view  to 
challenge  the  attention  of  the  people  of  America,  Europe  and 
the  Orient.  The  new  development  of  this  north  country 
surely  will  signally  increase  the  commercial  importance 
of  the  United  States,  and  this  view  of  the  subject  is  em- 
phasized by  the  fact  that  the  opening  of  the  Panama 
Canal  to  the  commerce  of  the  world  occurs  simultaneous- 
ly with  the  new  opening  of  Alaskan  resources  to  the 
markets  of  all  nations.  The  new  program  of  internal 
transportation  for  Alaska,  both  by  rail  and  river  routes, 
greatly  increasing,  as  it  must,  mining,  agricultural,  fish- 
ery, lumber  and  other  industries  of  that  great  Territory, 
will   correspondingly   augment  ocean    traffic   to   and   from 


40  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

this  vast  NorthlaDd,  with  other  parts  of  the  United  States; 
between  America  and  Europe,  on  the  one  hand,  and  between 
America  and  the  Orient  on  the  other. 

This  new  movement  naturally  will  multiply  the  num- 
ber of  ships  and  increase  the  tonnage  of  the  merchant 
marine  of  the  United  States.  This  sudden  growth  of  coast- 
wise and  international  commerce  will  advance  our  nation 
from  the  position  of  a  western  outpost  of  civilization  to 
a  central  place  among  the  great  industrial  and  commercial 
powers  of  the  earth. 

The  student  of  commercial  and  industrial  economy, 
holding  to  a  world  viewpoint,  at  once  will  see  in  this 
new  development,  an  early  transformation  in  the  present 
status  of  Pacific  Coast  cities  of  America,  notably  in  that 
of  Seattle,  the  natural  gateway  to  Alaska,  and  other 
Puget  Sound  centers  of  population,  as  well  as  the  in- 
dustrial and  business  centers  along  the  coast,  southward. 
It  is  not  so  much,  if  at  all,  that  the  Atlantic  seaboard 
of  the  United  States  will  suflfer  a  decline,  or  falling 
off,  commercially,  in  importance,  but  that,  because  of  the 
wonderful  natural  resources  of  Alaska  and  the  North  Pacific 
country,  generally,  and  the  universal  trend  of  empire  west- 
ward, the  Pacific  Coast  region  named,  quickly  will  enjoy  a 
rise  in  these  respects,  and  assume  a  leading  place  among  the 
maritime  countries  of  the  world. 

As  this  new  progress  advances  it  will  be  seen  that  the 
potential  item  of  $35,000,000  tentatively  appropriated  by 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  for  the  construction  and 
installation  of  one  trunk  line  of  railway  from  the .  in- 
terior to  the  south  coast  of  Alaska,  to  start  the  flow  of 
Alaskan  products  to  the  hulls  of  ocean  tramps  at  Prince 
William  Sound,  soon  will  come  to  be  regarded  as  but  the 
initial  sum  of  many  hundreds  of  millions  of  public  and 
private  money,  which  will  be  expended  in  a  similar  manner. 
This  growth  of  inland  development  and  transportation  with 
a  corresponding  augmentation  of  ocean  traffic,  rising  be- 
cause of  it,  very  soon  will  enlarge  the  commerce  of  the 


THE  NEW  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY  41 

Pacific,  and  elevate  its  more  favored  ports,  such  as  Seattle, 
to  marts  of  wealth-producing  trans-shipments,  in  the  work 
of  supplying  transcontinental  railway  lines  with  freights 
for  eastbound  distribution.  It  also  will  multiply  the  traf- 
fic of  the  Pacific  to  and  from  China  and  Japan,  and  pro- 
vide an  important  adjunct  to  the  stream  of  commerce  from 
the  North  Pacific  to  the  Pacific  entrance  of  the  Panama 
Canal.  In  short,  this  new  opening  of  Alaska  is  first 
and  foremost  a  great  commercial  question, — one  which  is 
to  change  the  trend  and  complexion  of  a  large  part  of  the 
commerce  of  the  whole  Western,  and  far  Eastern  world,  and 
which  is  greatly  to  enlarge  it.  The  evolution  of  oceanic 
commerce  provides  us  with  a  history  of  the  development 
of  naval  armaments.  It  is  significant  that  the  measure  of 
commercial  supremacy  of  a  nation  nearly  always  has  de- 
pended upon  the  naval  prowess  of  the  country  enjoying 
it.  The  commerce  of  the  Atlantic  and  its  immediate  con- 
nections, which  is  a  growth  from  far  Eastern  waters,  in 
the  westward  march  of  progress,  by  its  naturally  inter- 
related rivalries  produced  many  wars,  and  impressed 
Western  Civilization  with  the  imprint  of  commercialism, 
to  the  extent  that  in  Europe  and  America,  we  find  the 
institutions  of  these  continents  wearing  vestures  of  com- 
mercial economy. 

It  only  is  since  the  beginning  of  the  industrial  age 
proper,  not  far  from  the  middle  of  the  Nineteenth  Century, 
that  the  aspects  of  industrial  economy  may  be  observed  as 
finding  place  in  the  different  phases  of  the  advancement  of 
Western  mankind.  This  advent,  as  students  of  current  his- 
tory plainly  see,  is  giving  rise  to  new  social  and  political 
requirements,  and  pushing  human  genius  to  the  work  of  dis- 
covering new  opportunities. 

In  America  and  as  an  effect  of  prior  evolution  and 
progress,  two  great  problems  practically  compound  into 
one,  to  tax  governmental  policies.  These  are  the  com- 
mercial and  the  industrial  elements  of  civilization ;  and  they 
are  the  two  most  powerful  forces  at  work  in  our  national 


42  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

evolution.  They  are  as  inseparable  as  dominant.  The  mar- 
velous growth  and  expansion  of  productive,  or  creative 
industry,  are  developing  new  problems  of  social  science,  un- 
til thinking  people  begin  to  realize  that  there  is  rising  the 
diplomacy  of  home  rule,  quite  as  important  as  the  broader 
international  school,  and  as  completely  interrelated  with 
it. 

Here  in  the  far  West  of  the  Western  World,  we  can 
see  that,  as  Alaska  and  the  Panama  Canal  are  newly  open- 
ing their  gates,  under  the  auspices  of  the  national  govern- 
ment, to  welcome  and  assist  in  the  transition  of  the  com- 
mercial supremacy  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  policies 
of  governmental  regulation  are  confronted  with  both  com- 
mercial and  industrial  elements  of  human  economy,  in 
wonderfully  new  aspects. 

These  appeal  in  about  equal  force  for  a  more  effective 
and  comprehensive  administration  of  government  at  home, 
and  a  stronger,  and,  possibly,  a  wiser  management  of  our 
international  interests.  It  may  be  well  said  that  no  nation 
is  authorized  to  forcibly  carry  its  flag  abroad,  in  the  in- 
terests of  civilization,  until  it  has  developed  domestic  and 
social  harmony,  and  a  high  degree  of  industrial  peace  and 
prosperity  within  its  own  borders.  Inequities  of  internal 
regulation  generally  create  international  unrest.  Peace 
within   is  the   only   sure  guarantee  of  external   harmony. 

Until  now  the  United  States  has  not  been  the  storm 
center  of  international  conflicts,  incident  to  the  evolution 
of  world  life,  to  any  great  extent.  Our  nation,  as  stated, 
hitherto  has  been  in  the  attitude  of  a  western  outpost 
of  marching  progress,  but  the  period  has  come  when 
the  Pacific  Ocean  begins  a  great  campaign  of  commercial 
rivalries,  which,  in  the  very  nature  of  progress  must  at- 
tain world  supremacy.  Hence,  this  nation  gradually  will 
assume  a  central  place  and  function  in  world  affairs. 

For  this  reason,  and  until  better  guarantees  of  world 
peace  are  secured,  its  navy,  especially  on  the  Pacific, 
must  grow  more  rapidly,  in  order  that  the  swiftly  augment- 


THE  NEW  ERA  OF  PROSPERITY  43 

ing  commerce  of  this  great  ocean  shall  become  more  gen- 
erally characterized  by  the  Stars  and  Stripes.  Figures  talk 
badly  for  our  merchant  marine,  when  they  speak  in  any 
interrelationship  with  competing  nations.  The  national  vi- 
sion in  the  United  States  should  be  turned  towards  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  and  steadily  held  to  that  focus,  because  it  is 
upon  the  bosom  of  its  waters  that  the  peaceful  rivalries 
and  naval  conflicts  of  the  future  are  to  be  waged  and  con- 
cluded. The  onward  march  of  civilization,  in  making  pas- 
sage from  America  to  the  Orient  to  transform  stagnation 
into  new  life  there,  will  find  its  field  of  contest  on  the 
Pacific,  and,  that  transformation  finally  will  mold  the  des- 
tiny of  this  nation.  The  first  step  in  governmental  duty  in 
this  country,  therefore,  is  the  establishment  of  a  more  har- 
monious industrial  economy  within  our  own  borders ;  and, 
the  new  opening  of  Alaska  to  the  industry  and  commerce 
of  mankind  provides  this  nation  with  one  great  instru- 
mentality to  the  realization  of  this  much  desired  achieve- 
ment. 


As  will  be  seen  in  later  elaborations  on  these  pages  the 
Federal  Government  is  preparing  a  strong  program  for  the 
development  of  Alaska  and  the  regulation  of  its  industries 
and  commercial  interests.  In  this  the  vigor  and  genius  of 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  Franklin  K.  Lane,  plainly  are 
manifested.  The  guiding  hand  of  President  Wilson  also  is 
visible.  All  in  all  the  situation  may  be  regarded  as  the  be- 
ginning of  an  important  new  era  in  the  development  of 
Alaska,  the  Pacific  Northwest,  and  the  United  States  as  a 
whole. 


CHAPTER  III. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


Brief  Summary  of  Natural  Resources — Mineral  Wealth 
— Vast  Area — Gold,  Silver^  Copper,  Coal  and  Other 
Deposits — Fishery  Resources — The  Wealth  Already 
Produced — A  First  Short  View  of  the  Great  Coun- 
try.   

THE  value  of  Alaska  as  a  vast  wealth-producing  area, 
to  the  people  of  the  United  States  and  to  the  world, 
constitutes  one  of  the  newest  and  greatest  resources. 
In  land  area  the  Territory  is  equal  to  one-fifth  of  con- 
tinental United  States,  or  twelve  times  that  of  the  state 
of  New  York.  Its  production  of  gold  for  the  year  1912, 
according  to  oflScial  reports  was  |17,398,943,  and  the  esti- 
mate for  the  year  following,  although  under  somewhat  ad- 
verse circumstances,  was  |1.5,4.50,000.  In  1912,  the  gold 
output  of  the  state  of  California  was  but  $19,928,500. 


A  few  words  in  this  place  as  to  the  reasons  for  the 
decline  in  the  precious  metals  output,  as  estimated  for 
1913,  are  due.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the  season  for 
the  year  named  was  excessively  dry.  Gold  miners,  for  the 
greater  part  were  reduced  below  a  half  needful  supply  of 
water,  and  were,  therefore,  unable  to  maintain  the  aver- 
age increase.  The  falling  off  is  not  due  to  scarcity  of  gold, 
nor  the  failure  of  the  gold  resources  of  the  country  in  any 
respect.  The  estimated  yield  of  silver  for  the  same  year 
also  was  -190,839  less  than  that  of  1912.  The  copper  out- 
put fell  off  by  $1,809,131,  but  this  is  almost  wholly  due  to 

(44) 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  45 

the  destruction   of  the  extensive  copper  mining  plant  at 
Kennicott,  by  fire  in  that  year. 


Although  copper  mining  in  Alaska  is  but  begun,  the  per 
capita  copper  output  already  is  equal  to  that  of  Montana. 
Eeliable  statistics  show  that  it  has  valuable  coal  areas 
much  greater  than  those  of  Pennsylvania,  and  arable  lands 
of  greater  extent  than  the  State  of  Oregon.  "Tin,  iron, 
gypsum  and  oil  are  found  in  commercial  quantities,  and 
its  marble  quarries  rival  those  of  Vermont." 

Among  the  more  unique  features  of  Alaskan  develop- 
ment is  the  reindeer  industry,  started  in  1902,  with  1,280 
head,  which  has  grown  to  forty-seven  herds,  numbering 
38,000  head.  This  industry  already  is  a  valuable  source 
of  future  food  supply. 

The  undeveloped  water  powers  of  Alaska  exceed  the 
available  supply  of  the  Pacific  Coast  states,  and,  for  the 
greater  part  are  so  distributed  as  to  accommodate  natural 
industrial  centers. 

The  area  of  Alaska  is  586,400  square  miles.  This  is 
190  square  miles  greater  than  the  combined  area  of  the 
states  of  Michigan,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Indiana,  Ohio, 
Vermont,  Maine,  Maryland,  Rhode  Island,  North  Caro- 
lina, New  York,  Virginia,  New  Hampshire,  South  Caro- 
lina, Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Georgia,  New  Jersey, 
Pennsylvania  and  Delaware.  It  is  greater  than  the  com- 
bined area  of  Norway,  Sweden,  Finland,  England,  Scotland 
and  Ireland ;  or  that  of  Germany,  France  and  Spain. 

"Here  we  have,"  writes  Captain  R.  H.  Stretch,  in  a 
pamphlet  issued  by  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce,  un- 
der the  direction  of  J.  L.  McPherson,  chairman  of  the 
library  committee  of  the  Alaska  Bureau  of  that  organiza- 
tion, "an  area  covering  twenty  states  of  the  Union,  which 
extends  from  the  winter  resorts  of  Florida,  to  within  a  few 
miles  of  the  St.  Lawrence  River  and  Quebec,  where  naviga- 
tion is  closed  in  winter,  and  from  the  shores  of  the  At- 
lantic to  the  Mississippi  River.     If  the  map  of  Alaska  is 


46  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

placed  over  that  of  the  United  States,  with  Ketchikan  in 
Ahiska  on  Jacksonville,  in  Florida,  the  western  island  of 
tho  Aleutian  chain  will  be  found  at  Santa  Barbara  in 
California.  From  south  to  north  it  extends  over  one 
thousand  miles  of  latitude  from  Mexico  to  the  Canadian 
borders ;  and  from  the  east  to  west  over  two  thousand  five 
hundred  miles  of  longitude.  To  generalize  on  the  climat^ 
and  possible  resources  of  such  a  diversified  region  is  im- 
possible, if  it  is  wished  to  convey  any  idea  of  how  it  should 
be  developed,  just  as  would  be  any  equal  area  between  the 
Mississippi  and  the  Atlantic,  with  all  kinds  of  climate ;  vast 
plains  and  rugged  mountains;  producing  timber  in  some 
sections;  cotton,  sugar  and  tobacco  in  others,  and  diverse 
commercial  interests.  Such  a  region  must  be  divided  into 
districts  of  similar  products  and  requirements,  and  so  it 
is  with  Alaska."  The  climate  of  Alaska  is  considered  at 
length  in  other  chapters  of  this  volume. 

The  value  of  the  gold  and  silver  deposits  in  Alaska, 
as  well  as  that  of  the  copper,  tin,  coal  and  other  minerals 
and  non-metallic  minerals  have  long  since  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  civilized  world.  Their  great  riches  are  only 
beginning  to' be  known. 

The  fishery  resources,  and  the  industries  connected 
therewith,  are  assuming  vast  proportions.  In  1912,  the 
fishing  output  had  reached  the  value,  for  that  year,  of 
$17,391,578,  and  for  the  whole  period  since  1867,  |167,420,- 
118.  The  future  development  of  these  industries  is  sus- 
ceptible of  great  possibilities. 

The  immense  herds  of  seals  which  annually  resoi't  to 
the  Alaskan  jurisdiction  of  the  Bering  Sea  Islands  are 
estimated  to  contain  from  220,000  to  225,000.  This  in- 
dustry, now  conducted  under  the  direct  management  of  the 
United  States  Government,  realizes  nearly  |400,000  an- 
nually, and  provides  for  such  protection  to  the  herds  that, 
in  the  course  of  time,  their  numerical  strength  of  four  to 
five  millions  may  be  restored. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  47 

It  is  true  that  the  number  of  fur-bearing  animals  in 
Alaska  is  now  much  smaller  than  in  the  days  of  Russian 
occupation,  but  the  fur  industry  in  1912  yielded  |370,519. 
The  total  value  of  the  fur  output  since  1867  is  $22,216,872. 

But,  second  only  to  the  precious  metals  value  of  Alaska 
to  the  United  States,  if  indeed,  at  a  later  date  it  may  not 
become  the  foremost  industry,  is  that  of  agriculture.  It  is 
estimated  that  100,000  square  miles  of  the  Territory  are 
available  for  arable  or  grazing  land.  But,  as  will  be  seen 
in  another  part  of  this  volume,  natural  process  and 
progress  are  at  work,  rapidly  improving  soil  and  climatic 
conditions  in  Alaska,  so  that  within  a  generation  or  two, 
the  cereal  capacities  of  the  Territory  will  have  become 
much  greater.  There  is  the  evolution  of  soil  and  climate 
in  Alaska,  which  is  moving  with  greater  speed  than  in  the 
older  portions  of  the  continent,  and  this  is  true  of  the 
whole  northwest  country.  The  magnificent  vegetable  crops 
obtained  nearly  everywhere  in  the  Territory  presage  future 
cereal  possibilities.  Already  oats,  barley  and  rye  are  pro- 
duced in  abundance  at  the  Experimental  Stations. 

Wild  and  cultivated  fruits  abound,  or  are  grown,  and 
fully  twenty-seven  per  cent  of  the  total  area  of  the  coun- 
try is  devoted  to  forests  and  woodlands.  Over  30,000 
square  miles  are  estimated  as  containing  timber  suit- 
able for  manufacturing  purposes.  Wild  game,  consist- 
ing of  moose,  mountain  sheep,  mountain  goat,  deer  and 
caribou  abound,  while  brown  or  Kodiak  bears  are  plentiful. 

Birds,  flowers  and  scenic  attractions  are  abundant,  and 
so  are  insects,  the  latter,  as  almost  everywhere,  to  the  an- 
noyance of  the  inhabitants. 

Already,  with  a  population,  in  1010,  of  only  64,356,  the 
Territory  boasts  a  number  of  growing,  prosperous  towns, 
among  them,  Ketchikan,  AVrniigell,  Juneau,  Douglas, 
Treadwell  (the  last  three  practically  one  community), 
Haines,  Skagway,  Cordova,  Valdez,  Sitka,  Seward,  Nome, 
Fairbanks,  Iditarod  City,  Ruby  City  and  Eagle  City. 


48  ALASKA:  ITS   MEANING    TO    THE   WORLD 

T\w  iiiaiU'is  of  transportation,  including  railroads, 
wagon  roads  and  trails  are  considered  in  another  part  of 
this  work  at  some  length,  since  they  constitute  the  great 
interest  upon  which  old  Alaska  turns  into  a  new  era  of 
progress  in  1014.  The  vast  mineral  and  non-metallic  min- 
eral wealth  of  the  Territory  is  further  considered  on  other 
pages. 

Such  is  Alaska,  a  frontier  land  of  wonderful  re- 
sources, which  passed  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States  in  18G7,  at  a  cost  of  |7,200,000,  and  upon  which  the 
national  government  has  since  expended  about  125,000,000, 
over  and  above  the  revenues  collected  on  its  account.  In 
response  to  this  outlay  of  the  United  States,  Alaska  has 
yielded  a  profit  to  the  nation  of  practically  |438,000,000  in 
considerably  less  than  half  a  century  of  pioneer  progress. 
But  this  gain  is  slight  indeed  compared  to  the  many,  many 
billions  of  wealth  which  lie  in  almost  plain  sight  in  that 
country,  awaiting  only  the  forces  of  capital  and  human 
skill  for  development. 

Since  1867,  and  up  to  the  close  of  1912,  and  for  the 
far  greater  part,  within  the  last  fourteen  years,  Alaska 
has  made  return  to  the  United  States,  as  shown  in  the  re- 
ports of  the  United  States  Geological  Survey,  Director  of 
the  Mint,  and  other  official  documents,  as  follows: 

Gold    $212,765,727 

Silver    1,841,202 

Copper 13,570,225 

Coal     347,389 

Other  minerals _ 982,554 

Fisheries  and  Furs  240,820,168 

TOTAL     1470,337,265 

In  1912  Alaska  produced: 

Gold,  silver  and  copper 122,285,821 

Other  minerals  252,000 

Fish  and  furs  18,120,132 

Miscellaneous    394,046 

TOTAL ^  141,051,999 


PANNING  FOR  GOLD  NEAR  FAIRBANKS,  ALASKA 

Photo   by   P.    H.    Nowell. 


THE  BONANZA  COPPER  MINE  AT  KENNECOTT,  ALASKA 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES  49 

The  commerce  in  Alaska  in  1912  was : 

Imports    122,917,795 

Exports    42,278,546 


But  in  order  to  convey  to  the  reader  anything  like  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  value  of  Alaska  as  a  wealth  produc- 
ing country,  one  must  consider  its  resources  under  a  proper 
classification,  and  in  more  extended  elaborations.  These 
here  follow. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA  — GOLD. 


Minerals  of  Alaska — Discovery  and  Development — Gold 
OiTPUT  TO  Date — History  of  Prospecting — The  Trail 
Making  Period — Mining  Camps  the  Beginnings  of 
Cities — Placer  Mining  the  Poor  Man's  Method — 
Precious  Metals  Discoveries  Still  in  Progress. 


SO  far  as  discovery  and  development  have  gone,  the 
chief  mineral  products  of  Alaska  are  gold,  copper 
and  silver,  in  the  order  of  importance  named.  From 
1867,  to  and  including  1912,  (and  by  far  the  greater  part 
since  1899)  the  total  gold  output  has  been  |228,512,471 ; 
that  of  copper,  |16,074,62o,  and  that  of  silver,  $2,037,280. 
Of  the  non-metallic  minerals,  coal,  of  course,  so  far  as  dis- 
covery has  gone,  is  the  chief  product,  with  an  output  of 
?347.389  up  to  1912.  This  industry  is  susceptible  of  vast 
proportions,  as  vre  shall  see  on  the  following  pages. 

From  available  data,  it  may  be  stated  that  the  earli- 
est recorded  discoveries  of  gold  in  Alaska,  in  anything  like 
paying  quantities,  were  made  in  widely  scattered  locations, 
and  were  quartz  lodes,  not  placers.  The  Apollo  Mine  on 
Unga  Island,  off  the  western  shores  of  Alaska,  probably 
was  the  first  of  these  discoveries.  The  mines  at  Juneau, 
found  in  1880,  were  followed  by  the  find  at  Forty  Mile 
on  the  Yukon  in  1886.  In  1894  Circle  City  became  a  placer 
camp.  In  1896  the  mines  at  Kenai  came  into  notice,  and 
in  1897,  the  wonderful  Klondike  placer  discoveries  were 
announced.     These  startled  the  world,  and  since  that  date 

(50) 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— GOLD  51 

Alaska  has  held  the  attention  of  a  great  portion  of  man- 
kind. 

"Prospectors,  pushing  out  from  the  Klondike  in  search 
of  new  fields,  hit  upon  the  great  discovery  at  Nome  in 
1898.  In  this  and  the  following  years,  many  found  their 
way  to  Nome  by  way  of  St.  Michael,  and  as  this  camp 
became  crowded,  the  enterprise  of  these  hardy  gold  seek- 
ers was  rewarded  at  Rampart  in  1898;  at  the  Hot  Springs 
in  1899;  at  Fairbanks  in  1902;  at  Bonnifield  in  1903;  at 
the  Kantishna  in  1906;  at  Innoko  in  the  same  year;  and 
at  Iditarod  in  1907.  In  the  latter  years  gold  was  also 
discovered  at  Ruby  City  on  the  Yukon,  below  its  junction 
with  the  Tanana.  Prospectors  from  Forty  Mile  found  the 
Chandelar  in  1899,  and  those  from  Iditarod,  the  Kuskok- 
wim  in  1907."*  Those  who  made  their  way  to  the  Klon- 
dike by  way  of  Valdez  found  gold  in  the  Copper  River 
Basin,  on  the  Nizina,  Chisna  and  Chistochina  in  1902,  and 
at  Valdez  Creek  in  1903. 

Others  penetrating  the  but  little  known  southwestern 
region  traced  the  gold  belt  to  the  Iliamna  country  and 
Mulchatna  River  in  1907,  and  about  1910  discovered  Good 
News  Bay  on  the  shores  of  Bering  Sea;  while  prospectors 
from  Seward  Peninsula  found  Squirrel  Creek,  a  branch 
of  the  Kobuk  River,  in  1909.  We  are  to  learn  from  this 
succession  of  recent  gold  discoveries  that,  withal,  we  know 
but  little  of  what  the  future  has  in  store  for  even  the 
present  generation  in  Alaska.  "These  localities,"  says 
Capt.  R.  H.  Stretch,  "are  widely  scattered  and  far  apart, 
but  each  discovery  forms  a  settlement  and  a  base  of  sup- 
plies for  the  prospector,  enabling  him  to  travel  farther 
and  farther  into  regions  yet  unknown.  Of  but  a  small 
portion  of  the  territory  have  we  any  detailed  knowledge; 
the  larger  part  by  far  is  the  domain  of  the  prospector, 
and  by  him  only  a  fraction  has  been  traversed."  The  re- 
mainder mav  reveal  sources  of  wealth  not  yet  imagined. 


*  Geological    Report.     Captain    Stretch's    Pamphlet,   1912. 


52  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

The  period  here  so  briefly  sketched  may  be  regarded 
as  the  trail-making  one  of  these  hardy,  daring  pioneers; 
and,  as  already  seen,  many  of  these  adventurous  paths 
become  established  highways  of  later  travel.  This  is  a 
matter  of  pioneer  history  repeating  itself  in  one  new  ter- 
ritory after  another  in  the  development  of  our  whole 
country. 

It  is  not  the  purpose  to  enter,  in  this  place,  upon  an 
account  of  mining  development  in  Alaska.  I  have  given  in 
figures  the  results  of  this  industry  to  date.  These  mark 
only  a  beginning,  but  they  constitute  a  splendid  start, — 
one  which  places  Alaska  in  the  list  of  the  great  national 
resources  of  the  United  States. 

The  locations  of  the  principal  mining  centers  now  may 
be  regarded  as  the  beginnings  of  future  cities,  some  of 
them  already  assuming  considerable  commercial  import- 
ance. Speaking  in  this  behalf,  a  valuable  contribution  to 
Alaskan  literature,  edited  by  Captain  R.  H.  Stretch,  of  the 
Alaska  Bureau  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce,  says: 
"Practically  all  of  the  locations  of  the  principal  mining 
centers  are  found  in  broad  belts  of  slaty  and  micaschist 
rocks,  outcropping  on  both  the  southern  and  northern  foot- 
hills of  the  great  Alaska  Range,  and  the  Endicott  Moun- 
tains, the  bounding  walls  of  the  Yukon  Valley  being  ap- 
parently the  most  productive.  The  southern  slopes  of 
these  mountain  ranges  have  furnished  the  camps  in  Cop- 
per River  Valley,  and  the  placers  of  the  Koyokuk,  Chande- 
lar  and  Squirrel  Creek,  which  have  held  second  place  to 
those  on  the  slopes  facing  north.  Here  the  immigration 
through  Dawson  found  Fairbanks  and  its  tributaries,  from 
which  point  prospectors  drifted  west  and  south,  finding 
in  natural  succession  Bonnifield,  Kantishna,  Innoko  and 
Iditarod,  each  discovery  made  possible  by  the  previous 
one.  Each  of  these  camps  furnished  a  base  of  supplies 
for  the  prospector,  and  resulted  in  the  recent  discovery 
of  Ruby  City,  Fox  Creek  and  Aniuk,  each  of  which  is  like- 
ly to  result  in  further  extension  of  the  gold-bearing  area. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— GOLD  53 

In  like  manner,  prospectors  from  Kenai  found  the  Susitna, 
and  following  up  its  branches,  radiating  like  the  fingers 
of  the  hand,  have  been  steadily  pushing  on  into  the  un- 
known. So,  also,  from  Nome  as  a  base,  the  circle  of  known 
area  spread  until  it  has  reached  the  Kobuk  beyond  the 
Arctic  circle;  and  all  these  discoveries  have  been  made 
by  a  mere  handful  of  men,  plunging  singly  or  in  pairs  into 
the  wilderness,  to  be  lost  for  months  to  their  friends  and 
acquaintances," 

The  following  table  of  the  progress  of  discovery,  year 
by  year,  in  Alaska,  derived  from  the  same  source  and 
from  the  Geological  Reports,  illustrates  this  progress,  and 
to  some  extent,  provides  a  guide  to  the  future: 

1880 — Juneau,  resulting  in  discovery  of  the  quartz 
mines. 

1886 — Forty-Mile,  from  which  point  prospectors  found 
the   Klondike. 

1890 — Or  thereabout,  gold  found  on  the  Koyokuk. 

1894 — Circle  City  and  Birch  Creek,  from  Forty-Mile 
base. 

1896 — Kenai  Peninsula,  a  new  base  of  operations. 

1897 — Nome,  Eagle  and  Rampart,  from  overflow  of 
Klondike   rush. 

1898 — ^Yakataga  beach,  result  of  Nome  beach  discov- 
eries; Willow  Creek,  expansion  of  Kenai  cen- 
ter. 

1902 — Nizina,  Chisna  and  Chistochina. 

1902 — Bremner  from  Nizina  center. 

1902 — Fairbanks  from  Eagle  center;  Kobuk  from 
Nome  center. 

1903 — Valdez  Creek  from  Kenai  center;  Bonnifield 
from  Fairbanks  center. 

1904 — Yentna  by  prospectors  from  Kenai. 

1906 — Kantishna  by  prospectors  southwest  from  Fair- 
banks; Innoko  by  the  same. 


54  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

1907 — Kuskokwim  from   Innoko;   Squirrel   Creek  from 
the   Kobuk   center;    Iliamna,    Mulchatna,    Ta- 
cotna,  on  new  route  from  Kenai. 
1908 — Iditarod  from  Innoko. 
1910 — Good  News  Bay  from  Mulchatna. 
1911 — Ruby   City   by   overflow   from    Iditarod;    Aniuk 

by  overflow  from  Iditarod. 
1912 — Fox  by  overflow  from  Iditarod. 
Thus,  in  a  nutshell,  we  have  the  skeleton  of  the  his- 
tory of  Alaskan  discovery  and  progress,  so  far  as  gold 
mining  is  concerned.  But,  as  to  the  development  of  in- 
dividual mines,  there  is  not  space  within  the  limits  pre- 
scribed for  this  work  in  which  to  present  an  account. 

As  to  the  gold  quartz  mines  of  the  southeastern  dis- 
trict, extending  from  Ketchikan  to  Berners  Bay,  a  dis- 
tance of  300  miles,  operations  prevail  on  the  islands  as 
well  as  on  the  mainland,  "but  they  reach  their  maximum 
development  on  Douglas  Island  and  Juneau,  where  the 
group  of  four  mines,  collectively  known  as  the  Treadwell 
Mine  are  located,  and  on  which  900  stamps  are  employed," 
capable  of  crushing  about  5,000  tons  a  day.  It  is  said 
that  this  mine  has  produced  90  per  cent  of  the  quartz 
mining  output  of  Alaska  up  to  this  time. 

Concerning  these  mines,  the  consensus  of  authorities 
say:  "The  enormous  dimensions  of  the  ore  bodies  and  the 
success  attained  in  the  mining  and  reduction  of  their 
low  grade  ores  have  made  these  mines  classic.  As  a 
sample,  the  results  of  the  operations  of  these  mines  from 
1882  to  December,  1912,  are  given  below : 

Tons  mined  21,.571,093 

Total  value $52,972,292 

Average  yield  per  ton 2.46 

Cost  of  mining  and  milling  per  ton 1.48 

Profit  per  ton,  40  per  cent .98 

These  mines  now  have  obtained  a  depth  of  more  than 
1,800  feet."     Quartz  mining  in  the  other  districts  is  yet  in 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— GOLD  55 

its  infancy,  but  considerable  progress  has  been  made.  The 
prospect  is  good. 

As  is  well  known,  placer  mining  has  achieved  the  far 
greater  success  in  Alaska.  It  is  the  poor  man's  method  of 
obtaining  gold  from  the  earth.  It  is  a  process  of  separat- 
ing particles  of  gold  from  sand  or  gravel,  with  which  they 
are  mixed,  by  washing  the  gravel  in  moving  water,  the  light- 
er material  being  carried  away,  and  the  heavy  gold  re- 
maining. "In  its  simplest  form,  the  outfit  of  the  pros- 
pector comprises  a  pick,  a  shovel,  a  large  flat  sheet  iron 
pan,  an  iron  constitution  and  an  unfailing  fund  of  hope 
and  patience." 

In  the  second  stage  of  placer  mining  a  "rocker"  is 
used,  which  is  merely  a  screen  on  the  top  of  a  box,  to 
separate  the  coarse  gravel,  while  the  finer  material  drops 
on  a  sloping  board,  or  apron,  where  by  rocking  the  box 
sideways,  the  gravel  is  cleaned  and  passes  over  a  lip  at 
the  lower  end  of  the  apron,  which  retains  the  heavier 
gold. 

In  larger  surface  operations  the  gravel  is  shoveled 
into  a  long  sluice-box,  lined  on  the  bottom  with  riffles, 
and  set  on  a  grade  with  abundance  of  water,  known  as  a 
sluice-head.  This  plan  requires  considerable  room  at  the 
end  of  the  sluices  in  which  to  take  care  of  the  tailings.* 

"Where  the  body  of  gravel  is  not  deep  it  may  all  be 
washed  away  to  reach  the  richer  material  in  the  bottom 
of  the  valley  trough,  which  is  called  the  pay  streak.  If 
the  ground  be  too  deep,  shafts  are  sunk  to  bedrock  and  the 
pay  dirt  excavated  as  in  coal  mining,  hoisted  to  the  sur- 
face and  washed  in  the  usual  way.  This  is  called  drift 
mining.  In  all  these  hand  operations  only  the  cream  of 
the  deposit  can  be  removed,  as  the  cost  is  high,  so  that 
large  bodies  of  low  grade  gravel  are  left  untouched. 

"When  conditions  admit  the  use  of  water  under  pres- 
sure so  that  it  can  be  used  to  tear  down  the  bank  and" 


*  Geological      Reports.         Other      reliable      reports.         Captain 
Stretch's  Pamphlet. 


56  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

drive  the  gravel  into  the  sluice  boxes,  this  method  is  called 
hydraulic  miniug,  and  gravel  of  much  lower  value  per 
yard  can  be  handled  profitably  as  the  water  takes  the 
place  of  high-priced  human  labor.  It  is  evident,  though, 
that  there  must  be  much  more  dump  room  for  the  waste, 
and  flat  regions  cannot  give  pressure  to  the  water. 

''In  such  cases,  or  where  the  ground  cannot  be  drain- 
ed, resort  is  had  to  dredging,  which  can  be  carried  on 
either  in  open  water  or  at  any  point  where  water  can  be 
had  in  sufficient  quantities  to  make  a  pond  in  which  the 
dredge  can  float;  the  dredge  being  nothing  more  than  a 
barge  with  machinery  in  front  to  scoop  up  the  gravel, 
which,  after  washing,  is  dumped  overboard  at  the  stern 
by  an  endless  belt  on  an  elevator  or  stacker,  as  it  is  some- 
times called.  It  is  plain  that  the  capacity  of  the  dredge 
is  limited  only  by  the  depth  to  which  it  can  dig,  and  the 
size  and  number  of  the  boulders  in  the  gravel  on  the  bed- 
rock where  the  best  pay  is  found.  For  these  reasons,  on 
some  of  the  creeks  around  Fairbanks  the  depth  of  muck 
and  worthless  material  is  too  great  for  dredging  opera- 
tions, while  the  Nome  peninsula,  the  Iditarod,  Circle  City, 
Eagle  and  Forty  Mile  regions,  as  well  as  the  Kenai  Pen- 
insula are  well  suited  to  their  use.  The  report  of  the  U. 
S.  Geological  Survey  gives  the  number  of  dredges  in  use 
in  1912  as:  Seward  Peninsula,  33;  Forty  Mile,  3;  Fair- 
banks, 1;  Birch  Creek,  1;  Iditarod,  1,  and  the  Kenai  Pen- 
insula, 1." 

Hydraulic  plants  are  in  use  on  the  Nome  Peninsula, 
in  the  Copper  River  Valley,  and  in  the  Kenai-Susitna, 
Circle  and  Forty  Mile  districts. 

The  Geological  Survey  estimates  the  number  of  yards 
of  gravel  moved  in  Alaska,  and  the  approximate  value  of 
the  same,  as  follows,  which  apparently  include  all  methods : 
1908— Cubic  yds.  moved...4,275,000  Av.  value  per  yd...|3.74 
1909— Cubic  yds.  moved...4,418,000  Av.  value  per  yd...  3.66 
1910— Cubic  yds.  moved...3,800,000  Av.  value  per  yd...  3.20 
1911— Cubic  yds.  moved...5,790,000      Av.  value  per  yd...  2.47, 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— GOLD  57 

from  650  operations  in  1910  and  740  in  1911;  while  the 
average  value  per  yard  of  similar  work  in  California  is 
estimated  at  only  thirteen  cents. 

Additional  rich,  gold-bearing  gravel  beds  were  discov- 
ered in  1913  near  Fairbanks,  on  Fairbanks  Creek,  and  the 
Chatanika  Flats.  Indeed,  new  discoveries  in  many  sections 
are  being  located  in  the  proportion  that  prospecting  and 
.  discovery  work  is  pushed  forward. 

Following  is  the  new  law  governing  the  location  of 
placer  claims,  of  1912: 

"Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  no  association  placer-mining 
claim  shall  hereafter  be  located  in  Alaska  in  excess  of  forty 
acres,  and  on  every  placer-mining  claim  hereafter  located 
in  Alaska,  and  until  a  patent  has  been  issued  therefor,  not 
less  than  |100  worth  of  labor  shall  be  performed  or 
improvements  made  during  each  year,  including  the  year 
of  location,  for  each  and  every  twenty  acres  or  excess 
thereof. 

"Sec.  2.  That  no  person  shall  hereafter  locate  any 
placer-mining  claim  in  Alaska  as  attorney  for  another  un- 
less he  is  duly  authorized  thereto  by  a  power  of  attorney 
in  writing,  duly  acknowledged,  and  recorded  in  any  attor- 
ney's office  in  the  judicial  division  where  the  location  is 
made.  Any  person  so  authorized  may  locate  placer-mining 
claims  for  not  more  than  two  individuals  or  one  associa- 
tion under  such  power  of  attorney,  but  no  such  agent  or 
power  of  attorney  shall  be  authorized  or  permitted  to  locate 
more  than  two  placer-mining  claims  for  any  one  principal 
or  association  during  any  calendar  month,  and  no  placer- 
mining  claim  shall  hereafter  be  located  in  Alaska  except 
under  the  limitations  of  this  act. 

"Sec,  3.  That  no  person  shall  hereafter  locate,  cause 
or  procure  to  be  located  for  himself  more  than  two  placer- 
mining  claims  in  any  calendar  month;  provided,  that  one 
or  both  such  locations  may  be  included  in  an  association 
claim. 


58  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

"Sec.  4.  That  no  placer-mining  claim  hereafter  located 
in  Alaska  shall  be  patented  which  shall  contain  a  greater 
area  than  is  fixed  by  law,  nor  which  is  longer  than  three 
times  its  greatest  width. 

"Sec.  5.  That  any  placer-mining  claim  attempted  to 
be  located  in  violation  of  this  act  shall  be  null  and  void, 
and  the  whole  area  thereof  may  be  located  by  any  qualified 
locator  as  if  no  such  prior  attempt  had  been  made." 


CHAPTER  V. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COPPER. 


Copper  Discovery  and  Development — Locations  of  Copper 
AND  White  Rivers — Discovery  op  the  Nicolat  Mine — 
The  Bonanza  Mine  on  Kennicott  Creek — A  Wonder- 
ful Shipment — The  Future  Great  Copper  Country 
OF  the  Earth.         

IT  was  a  most  important  development  that  revealed 
Alaska  as  probably  the  richest  copper  field  of  the  world 
discovered  up  to  this  time.  The  existence  of  this  metal 
was  known  to  the  Russians  for  a  long  period  prior  to  the 
^'Seward  Purchase."  It  is  recorded  that  nuggets  of  native 
copper  and  small  household  utensils  beaten  out  of  the  same 
were  found  in  the  possession  of  the  natives,  but  the  Russians 
did  not  appear  to  have  been  acquainted  with  the  particular 
localities  from  which  the  metal  was  obtained,  further  than 
that  it  was  somewhere  in  the  region  of  the  Copper  and 
White  Rivers,  a  section  of  the  country  wholly  unexplored 
prior  to  the  purchase  of  Alaska  by  the  United  States.  The 
Indian  word  for  copper  is  ''chiti."  From  this  we  have 
such  names  as  Chitina,  Chititu,  Chitistone,  etc. 

So  far  as  known,  says  one  report,  the  opening  up  of 
the  Copper  River  Valley  was  the  result  of  the  Klondike 
excitement.  Prospectors  going  in  by  the  way  of  Valdez, 
remained  in  the  valley  and,  in  July,  1899,  one  of  these  was 
shown  the  Nikolat  mine  by  an  Indian,  who  found  it  by  the 
aid  of  a  map  drawn  by  the  old  chief  Nicolat,  after  whom 
it  was  named.  "Situated  among  glaciers  at  the  head  of  the 
Chitina  River,  a  large  affluent  of  the  Copper,  the  locality 
was  so  inaccessible  that  the  discovery  was  practically  value- 

(59) 


60  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

less,  as  even  solid  copper  could  not  be  mined  and  taken  out 
of  the  country  at  a  profit,  as  the  cost  of  transportation  (up 
to  April,  1911)  was  several  times  the  value  of  the  mineral. 
In  the  belief,  however,  that  railroads  in  a  few  years  would 
open  up  the  country,  the  copper  belt  on  the  north  side  of 
the  Chitina  was  prospected  and  located  and  a  large  amount 
of  money  spent  on  development  over  a  distance  of  nearly 
100  miles,  extending  from  the  Kotsina  on  the  west  to  the 
Nizina  on  the  east;  and  the  copper  belt  was  traced  still 
farther  to  the  eastward  through  Scolai  Pass  to  the  head- 
waters of  the  White  River.  Continuing  in  this  direction, 
native  copper  is  now  known  at  the  head  of  the  Donjek  (a 
branch  of  the  White  River),  around  the  headwaters  of  the 
Alsek,  and  the  belt  may  probably  continue  to  the  copper 
discoveries  at  Rainy  Hollow,  near  the  head  of  the  Chilkat 
River,  which  drains  into  Lynn  Canal.  This  region,  which 
may  be  best  known  as  the  Copper  River  Belt,  though  part 
of  it  lies  in  Canadian  territory,  roughly  parallels  the  coast 
line  of  the  Pacific  Ocean,  and  approximately  100  miles 
inland,  and  lies  to  the  north  of  the  St.  Elias  range  and 
the  Chugach  Mountains."* 

It  is  noted  here  that  in  1899  the  Geological  Survey, 
examining  the  head  of  the  White  River,  reported  a  copper 
belt,  similar  to  that  just  described,  following  the  northern 
slopes  of  the  Wrangell  Mountains,  and  bounded  on  the  north 
by  the  Tanana  River,  just  as  the  belt  already  spoken  of 
follows  the  southern  base  of  the  same  range.  This  region 
is  called  the  Tanana-Nabesna  Belt,  so  called,  owing  to  the 
names  of  its  two  most  important  streams.  It  lies  about 
200  miles,  in  an  air  line,  southeast  of  Fairbanks,  in  the 
Tanana  Valley.  Its  development  can  only  rise  through 
the  extension  of  railroad  facilities,  as  the  Upper  Tanana 
is  not  a  navigable  stream. 

Although  these  tw^o  copper  belts  had  been  quite  fully 
prospected,  no  copper  was  shipped  until   April,   1911,  on 


*  Compiled    from    the    Geological    Reports    and    other    reliable 
sources. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COPPER  61 

which  date  the  Copper  River  and  Northwestern  Railroad 
was  completed  to  the  Bonanza  Mine  on  Kennicott  Creek, 
196  miles  from  Cordova,  its  ocean  terminus,  and  over 
1,000  tons  of  copper  ore,  having  an  approximate  value  of 
1250,000,  was  sent  out  on  the  first  train  as  an  earnest 
of  future  production.  These  shipments  were  interrupted 
until  1913,  owing  to  adverse  conditions,  noted  elsewhere  in 
this  volume,  when  traffic  and  mining  operations  were 
profitably  resumed. 

"It  is  only  the  extreme  richness  of  the  Bonanza  ores 
containing  some  1,300  pounds  of  copper  to  the  ton  (sixty- 
five  per  cent)  which  has  made  their  shipment  profitable. 
How  the  opening  up  of  this  rich  deposit  affected  the  pro- 
duction of  copper  in  Alaska  may  be  judged  from  a  rise 
in  the  value  of  the  copper  output  from  $588,897  in  1910, 
to  14,600,000  in  1912." 

Discoveries  at  Prince  William  Sound  followed,  extend- 
ing the  valuable  copper  finds  of  the  Territory.  The  Geo- 
logical Survey  in  1908  mentions  the  occurrence  of  copper 
at  the  Galdhaugh  Mine,  and  also  at  Land-Locked  Bay  on 
the  mainland,  as  well  as  on  Bligh,  Latouche  and  Knight 
Islands.  The  Ellamar  Mine  is  said  to  have  been  known 
in  1895,  but  was  not  located  until  1897,  at  which  time 
the  price  of  copper  rose  to  twenty-five  cents  a  pound,  and 
caused  the  location  of  every  outcrop  then  known.  Ship- 
ments from  the  region  have  steadily  increased.  This  belt 
is  separated  from  the  Copper  River  by  the  Chugach 
Mountains  and  the  Valdez  gold  belt. 

In  the  Knik  region  copper  was  reported  in  1906,  occur- 
ring under  similar  conditions  to  those  existing  on  Prince 
William  Sound ;  and  prior  to  1908  numerous  locations  were 
made  on  the  east  side  of  Resurrection  Bay  on  the  Kenai 
Peninsula,  and  on  the  south  side  of  Turnagain  Arm  native 
copper  was  found  in  the  sluice  boxes  of  the  hydraulic 
miners,  which  resulted  in  the  exploitation  of  a  vein  carry- 
ing sulphides,  with  unknown  results.  The  whole  coastal 
region    may   be   appropriately    called   the   Prince   William 


62  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Sound  Belt,  and  is  characterized  by  the  yellow  copper- 
sulphide  ore,  the  high  grades  of  the  Chitina  being  absent. 

The  southeastern  belt,  on  Prince  of  Wales  and 
adjacent  islands  in  the  Alexander  Archipelago,  is  the  only 
other  important  locality  in  Alaska,  standing  third  in  the 
list  of  annual  production,  although  up  to  1908  it  held  first 
place,  a  position  usurped  by  Prince  William  Sound  in 
1908  and  by  the  Copper  River  Valley  in  1911.  The  mines 
lie  just  west  of  Ketchikan  and  are  clustered  around  the 
little  towns  of  Hadley,  Sulzer,  Dolomi  and  Niblack.  The 
district  lies  on  the  direct  route  to  Juneau  and  Skagway, 
and  as  a  natural  result  many  locations  were  made  on  its 
mineral  deposits  as  early  as  1900  and  1901.  Development 
progressed  slowly  until  the  high  price  of  copper  from 
1905  to  1907  made  low-grade  ores  available,  and  produc- 
tion reached  its  maximum  in  the  last  named  year,  when 
copper  was  quoted  at  twenty-five  cents  per  pound.  With 
the  sudden  drop  that  ensued,  production  fell  off  rapidly. 
The  higher  price  of  copper  in  1912  has  had  a  stimulating 
effect. 

Copper  mining  development  in  1912,  as  noted  in  the 
Geological  Survey,  deserves  attention  in  this  place,  as 
follows : 

Chitina  Valley. — "At  the  east  end  of  the  field  work 
was  continued  on  the  Mother  Lode,  Nikolai  and  Westover 
properties,  and  also  on  a  property  located  on  an  island  in 
the  Kennicott  glacier.  Prospecting  and  development  were 
especially  active  in  the  vicinity  of  Kuskulana  River.  Here 
the  largest  operations  were  those  of  the  Great  Northern 
Development  Company,  which  completed  about  5,000  feet 
of  development  work.  The  Alaska-Consolidated  Copper 
Company  carried  on  development  work  on  Nugget  Creek 
and  on  the  Rarus  group  of  claims.  The  Alaska  United 
Copper  Exploration  Company  continued  work  on  the  Black- 
burn group  located  on  Porcupine  Creek.  In  addition  to 
the  above,  a  large  number  of  claims  were  opened  in  the 
Kuskulana  region  during  the  summer.     This  field  is  now 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COPPER  63 

readily  accessible  from  the  railway,  and  a  branch  has  been 
surveyed  which  would  permit  the  shipment  of  ore." 

Prince  William  Sound. — "The  Ellamar,  Three-man, 
Latouche  and  Land-Locked  Bay  Copper  Companies  were 
shippers  (and  were  joined  in  1913  by  the  Fidalgo).  Devel- 
opment work  was  carried  forward  on  a  large  number  of 
other  claims,  some  of  which  promise  to  become  shippers 
at  an  early  date.  A  notable  advance  was  that  made  on 
the  Solomon   Gulch  properties  near  Valdez." 

Southeast  Alaska. — "The  Jumbo  and  Rush  &  Brown 
Mines  were  the  only  considerable  shippers.  The  Mt. 
Andrews  Mine  was  idle  most  of  the  time,  but  plans  have 
been  made  for  its  reopening  and  systematic  development; 
and  such  was  the  case  with  the  Copper  Mount  Mine." 

Tanana-Nahesna. — There  was  some  activity  in  the 
White  River  region  in  1913,  as  also  in  the  Nabesna  district. 
Copper  ore  has  been  found  in  the  Matanuska  Valley  on 
Sheep  Mountain ;  also  on  the  headwaters  of  the  Susitna,  on 
a  tributary  of  McLaren  River. 


The  copper  production  in  Alaska  from  1880  to  1912 
is  as  follows: 

1880  to  1910.       1911.  1912.  Total. 

Tons    of    ore 

mined    328,047         68,975         93,447         490,469 

Tons    of   copper 

produced    16,897         13,634         14,615  45,146 

Value  of  copper 

produced    |4,238,709  |3,366,584  |4,823,031  |12,428,324 

Value  of  gold 

and  silver  1,580,299       256,229       385,157      2,221,685 

Total    value    o  f 

ore   5,819,008        256,229     5,208,188     14,650,009 

Average  value 

of  ore  17.74  52.52  55.73  29.87 


64  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

The  producing  mines  are  located  as  below: 

1910  1911  1912 

Southeastern  Alaska  4          4  3 

Prince  William  Sound 3          3  4 

Copper  River  Valley 1  1 

7          8  8 


These  data  clearly  establish  Alaska  as  the  coming 
great  copper  producing  area  of  the  world.  The  same  may 
be  said  in  respect  to  gold  and  coal. 


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4 
t 


CHAPTER    VI. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— COAL. 


Alaska  Coal  Fields — The  High  Grade  Coal  Deposits — 
The  Lignite  Areas  —  Description  op  the  Coal 
Wealth  of  Alaska — Future  Cheap  Coal  for  Alaska 
Homes  and  Factories  —  Coal  Production  —  Deposits 
Estimated  at  150,000,000,000  Tons. 


THE  coal  fields  of  Alaska  cover  an  enormous  area, 
estimated  by  the  United  States  Geological  Survey 
at  12,667  square  miles.  They  are  located  in  many 
parts  of  the  territory,  from  the  Pacific  even  to  the  Arctic 
Oceans,  the  least  attractive  section  being  the  islands  of 
the  southeastern  portion  of  the  country,  where  the  deposits 
are  said  to  be  of  limited  extent.  The  deposits  of  a  high 
grade  character  round  which  the  recent  injurious  coal 
claims  controversy  centered  are  those  in  the  Bering  field, 
near  Katalla,  and  Controller  Bay,  and  those  in  the  Matan- 
uska  Valley,  north  of  Seward.  A  similar  grade  is  found 
at  Cape  Lisbnrne,  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle,  from  which 
whaling  vessels  obtain  their  supplies,  but  the  inaccessi- 
bility of  the  locality  takes  it  out  of  the  field  of  competition, 
for  the  present  at  least. 

The  remaining  fields  are  of  lower  grade,  commonly 
called  lignite,  but  well-suited  for  household  and  general 
manufacturing  purposes,  but  not  adapted  to  the  manu- 
facture of  coke,  nor  for  smelting  operations,  nor  for  the 
use  of  naval  or  large  ocean  steamers.  It  is  officially  stated 
that  the  high  grade  coals  are  not  found  in  Alaska,  except 
in  the  fields  already  indicated. 

(65) 


SiK. 


66  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

From  Government  reports  and  other  reliable  data  at 
hand,  I  present  the  following  condensation  of  these  coal 
interests : 

The  Matanuska  field  can  be  placed  in  communication 
with  tidewater  at  Seward  by  a  railroad  185  miles  long,  of 
which  seventy-two  miles  is  already  constructed,  as  pointed 
out  by  the  recent  railroad  commission.  The  Bering  field 
can  be  connected  with  the  port  of  Cordova,  by  either 
seventy-six  or  ninety  miles  of  rail  on  different  routes,  of 
which  thirty-eight  are  at  present  constructed  as  part  of 
the  Copper  Kiver  and  Northwestern  Railway,  and  the 
remaining  thirty-eight  or  fifty-two  miles  could  be  built  in 
one  season.  If  a  port  could  be  opened  on  Controller  Bay, 
these  distances  would  be  reduced  to  about  tw^enty-five 
miles.  With  the  construction  of  two  or  more  roads,  both 
fields  would  be  opened  and  supply  their  respective  terri- 
tories, as  well  as  open  markets  outside  on  a  competitive 
basis.  Analysis  of  the  coals  in  these  two  fields,  ranging 
from  bituminous  to  anthracite,  shows  that  in  quality  they 
are  equal  to  those  of  similar  fields  in  the  Eastern  States. 

As  far  as  the  exploitation  and  development  of  the 
eastern  half  of  the  territory  is  concerned,  the  immense 
deposits  at  the  head  of  the  Nenana  Eiver  (Cantwell  on 
some  maps)  claim  attention,  being  close  to  the  route  of 
the  suggested  railroad  through  the  Copper  River  Valley, 
and  only  about  seventy  miles  from  Fairbanks,  and  the 
Tanana  River.  The  recent  government  report  on  this  field, 
known  as  the  Bonnifield,  just  issued,  gives  some  astound- 
ing figures,  showing  in  the  best  developed  natural  cross 
section  veins,  varying  in  thickness  from  one  to  forty  feet, 
with  an  aggregate  thickness  of  231  feet;  and  in  a  careful 
summary  estimates  the  total  volume  of  coal  in  an  area  of 
122  square  miles  at  9,950,000,000,  or  nearly  ten  billion 
tons,  remarking  that  this  quantity  may  possibly  be  only 
one-third  of  the  actual  amount.  While  a  lignite,  the  coal 
is  of  great  value  on  account  of  its  accessibility  to  the 
interior  and  the  ease  with  which  it  can  be  mined. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COAL  67 

Several  other  fields  of  minor  extent  and  similar  com- 
position occur  along  the  upper  Yukon  below  Eagle  City. 
Similar  fields  on  the  lower  Yukon  near  Nulato  would 
become  tributary  to  the  western  projected  railroad,  to  be 
distributed  in  the  mining  camps  of  the  southwest  and  the 
valley  of  the  Kuskokwim. 

Coal  lands  north  of  the  Yukon  may  for  the  present 
be  considered  a  negligible  quantity,  although  in  addition 
to  the  deposits  near  Cape  Lisburne,  extensive  areas  are 
known  on  the  coast  to  the  eastward  as  well  as  on  the 
Colville  River  beyond  the  Arctic  Circle. 

Returning  to  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  there  is  a  very 
extensive  field  of  lignite  along  the  west  coast  of  the  Kenai 
Peninsula,  well  shown  along  the  shores  of  Cook  Inlet, 
near  the  mouth  of  which  the  small  towns  of  Homer  and 
Seldovia  are  located.  This  field  has  the  honor  to  receive 
the  first  coal  patent  issued  in  Alaska.  Judging  from  pub- 
lished maps  of  the  Geological  Survey,  a  larger  area  is  here 
underlain  with  coal  than  at  any  other  point  in  the  Terri- 
tory, though  the  total  thickness  may  not  be  as  great. 
Work  on  the  deposits  has  been  carried  on  for  many  years, 
and  being  on  tidewater  the  facilities  for  shipment  are 
excellent.  Owing  to  the  scarcity  of  coal  lands  in  Cali- 
fornia, the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad  is  said  to  have 
tested  the  coal  many  years  ago  as  a  possible  source  of 
supply,  but  relinquished  the  attempt  owing  to  the  risk  of 
field  fires,  from  excessive  sparking  under  forced  draft. 
This  is  stated  by  Dall,  in  his  report  on  Alaska  coals,  to 
be  due  to  the  abundance  of  small  pellets  of  fossil  resin 
with  which  it  is  impregnated.  As  the  trouble  developed 
under  forced  draft  only,  this  fact  does  not  appear  to  injure 
it  for  domestic  use,  "and  with  low  freights  it  may  still 
find  a  good  market  in  San  Francisco,  which  draws  its 
supplies  from  England,  Japan  and  Australia,  as  well  as 
from  the  state  of  Washington." 

Other  deposits  occur  at  Chignik,  and  at  Hereenden 
Bay  or  Coal  Harbor,  near  the  western  end  of  the  Alaska 


68  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Peninsula,  where  quantities  are  mined  for  use  in  salmon 
canneries  and  fishing  vessels. 

"From  the  foregoing  enumeration  of  localities,"  says 
Capt.  R.  H.  Stretch,  in  his  excellent  compilation  on 
Alaska,  issued  under  the  direction  of  Secretary  J.  L. 
McPherson,  of  the  Alaska  Bureau  of  the  New  Chamber  of 
Commerce  of  Seattle,  "omitting  others  of  minor  importance, 
it  can  be  seen  that  every  portion  of  the  Territory  can  be 
cheaply  supplied  with  fuel  as  its  development  demands, 
while  the  inability  of  the  population  at  the  present  time 
to  use  these  resources  is  resulting  in  the  denudation  of 
the  interior  woodlands  at  a  rapid  rate,  and  in  late  reports 
it  has  been  suggested  that  all  woodlands  in  Alaska  should 
be  placed  under  Government  authority.  The  opening  of 
the  coal  lands  is  the  best  remedy  for  this  state  of  things. 
In  a  thinly  wooded  district  the  price  of  fuel  must  increase 
steadily  as  the  nearby  supplies  are  exhausted,  while  the 
cost  of  hauling  cordwood  equal  in  heating  capacity  to  a 
ton  of  coal  is  several  times  as  great. 

"The  production  of  coal  in  Alaska,  beginning  with 
1,200  tons  in  1899,  reached  a  maximum  of  10,139  tons  in 
1907,  and  in  1911  had  dwindled  to  900  tons,  with  a  total 
of  36,314  tons  in  thirteen  years,  while  the  total  consump- 
tion was  1,440,104.  For  1911  the  production  only  equaled 
about  seven-tenths  of  one  per  cent,  900  tons  out  of  121,728 
consumed !" 

On  this  subject  the  following  paragraph  is  taken  from 
a  general  review  in  Bulletin  442  of  the  Geological  Survey, 
relating  to  the  coal  supply  of  Alaska: 

"In  considering  the  foregoing  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  estimates  cover  only  the  1,202  square  miles  of 
coal  lands,  namely,  that  part  of  the  coal  fields  which,  with 
a  reasonable  degree  of  certainty,  is  believed  to  be  underlain 
by  workable  coal  beds.  No  allowance  whatever  is  made 
for  the  remainder  of  the  12,667  square  miles  mapped  as 
coal  fields.  *  *  *  It  is  therefore  probably  safe  to  say 
that    the    minimum    estimate    of    Alaska's    coal    resources 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— COAL  69 

should  be  placed  at  150,000,000,000  tons,  and  that  the  actual 
tonnage  may  be  many  times  that  amount.  These  figures 
indicate  coal  resources  far  in  excess  of  the  original  coal 
supply  of  Pennsylvania.  It  must  be  remembered,  however, 
that  over  half  the  Alaska  coal  is  lignite,  while  all  of  the 
Pennsylvania  coal  is  of  high  grade." 

It  must  not  be  inferred,  however,  from  the  above 
statement  that  these  lignites  are  valueless.  They  form  a 
very  large  part  of  the  world's  supply  for  all  uses  except 
some  special  industries,  and  the  world  would  be  cold  with- 
out them. 

Finally,  however  great  may  be  the  estimated  tonnage 
of  coal  in  Alaska,  and  its  estimated  money  value,  it  is  not 
worth  the  price  of  a  cold  breakfast  on  a  frosty  morning 
unless  it  is  worked  and  marketed. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— FISHERIES. 


Vast  Fishery  Wealth  of  Alaska — Statistics  from  the 
Report  op  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor — 
The  Most  Extensive  Cod  Fishery  Banks  in  the 
World — Extent  of  the  Present  Industry — ^Varieties 
OF  Salmon.  


A 


S  already  stated,  the  total  value  of  the  fishery  output 
of  Alaska  in  1912  was  $17,391,578;  that  of  the 
^  whole  period  up  to  and  including  1912,  is  $167,420,- 
188.  Thus,  it  is  seen  that  the  fishing  industry  of  the  Terri- 
tory is  assuming  immense  proportions.  The  year  1912 
shows  a  substantial  growth  over  the  previous  year.  This 
is  shown  by  the  report  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor,  from  which  I  condense  the  following  summary, 
conforming  to  the  contents  of  a  pamphlet  on  Alaska  issued 
by  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce:  Twenty-six  new 
salmon  packing  establishments  were  built  in  1912,  while 
large  additions  have  been  made  to  the  fleets  engaged  in 
the   deep   sea   and   whaling   industries. 

The  salmon  industry  now  extends  from  Ketchikan  in 
Southeast  Alaska,  for  a  distance  of  2,000  miles,  following 
the  general  course  of  the  shoreline,  to  Bristol  Bay  in 
Bering  Sea,  and  at  this  time  an  unknown  distance  beyond, 
but  not  less  than  800  miles,  both  on  the  mainland  and 
the  larger  islands. 

Oflficial  data  further  shows :  "Five  species  of  salmon 
are  used  commercially,  known  respectively  as  Coho  op 
silver,  dog  or  Chum,  Humpback  or  pink,  King  or  spring 
and    red    or    Sockeye.     Of    these,    the    King    is    especially 

(70) 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— FISHERIES  71 

valuable  on  account  of  its  large  size.  It  often  attains  a 
length  of  four  feet  and  a  weight  of  more  than  thirty 
pounds.  The  Sockeye  is  highly  esteemed  on  account  of 
the  deep  red  color  of  its  flesh.  This  many  people  consider 
essential  to  a  good  fish.  The  halibut  fishery  is  carried  on 
mostly  ofif  the  shores  of  the  islands  of  Southeastern  Alaska, 
the  headquarters  being  at  Ketchikan  and  Petersburg," 

The  codfish  banks  are  located  along  both  the  north 
and  south  shores  of  the  Alaska  Peninsula,  the  curing 
stations,  to  the  number  of  fourteen,  being  on  the  Shumagin 
and  adjacent  islands.  These  fishing  grounds  are  said  to 
be  the  most  extensive  in  the  world.  The  catch  will  be 
limited  only  by  the  demand.  Two  years  ago  ten  vessels 
of  an  aggregate  tonnage  of  2,477  tons,  sailing  from  Puget 
Sound  and  San  Francisco,  were  engaged  in  this  industry, 
taking  their  catch  direct  to  their  home  markets.  The 
catch  amounted  to  7,708,000  pounds,  valued  at  |231,240. 
The  shore  stations  employed  284  persons  and  the  catch 
was  3,597,288  pounds  of  prepared  products,  valued  at 
$108,790,  making  a  total  of  |340,030;  an  increase  of  fifty 
per  cent  over  the  previous  year. 

"Herring  abound  in  numbers  beyond  conception  in  the 
waters  of  the  Southeastern  Archipelago,  those  in  the 
northern  waters  equaling  in  size  and  flavor  the  far-famed 
Yarmouth  bloaters  of  England.  They  are  prepared  for  the 
market  both  as  food,  oil  and  fertilizer,  and  are  the  chief 
bait  used  in  the  cod  and  halibut  flsheries.  The  number  of 
fish  in  some  of  the  "schools"  is  beyond  computation.  In 
many  of  the  shallow  bays  hundreds  of  thousands  are  fre- 
quently left  by  the  receding  tides;  the  quantity  being  so 
great  in  a  recent  case,  where  the  fish  were  caught  in  a 
sudden  freeze  and  washed  ashore  in  a  solid  mass,  as  to  be 
a  menace  to  health.  Four  factories  for  commercial  pro- 
ducts are  located  at  Killisnoo  and  other  points  west  and 
south  of  Juneau. 

"While  the  above  forms  of  fish  life  furnish  the  bulk 
of  commercial  products,  reliable  authorities  state  that  no 


72  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

less  than  250  kinds  of  edible  fish  are  found  in  Alaskan 
waters.  Trout  and  grayling  abound  in  all  the  lakes  and 
streams  and  make  the  territory  an  angler's  paradise. 

"Though  whales  are  not  strictly  fish  in  a  scientific 
sense,  their  mode  of  life  and  similarity  of  shape,  as  well 
as  the  apparatus  required  in  their  capture,  bring  them  into 
the  fish  group  commercially. 

"The  gradually  diminishing  number  of  the  Arctic 
whales  (producing  whalebone)  has  radically  changed  mod- 
ern methods.  It  is  now  customary  to  have  a  home  shore 
station  from  which  small  powerful  steamers  cruise,  killing 
the  whale  with  explosive  bombs,  inflating  them  to  prevent 
sinking,  and  towing  them  to  the  rendering  works  on  shore. 
Three  such  stations  were  operated  in  1912,  of  which  two 
are  located  on  Baronoff  Island  and  another  on  Akutan 
Island,  near  Dutch  Harbor,  in  the  Aleutian   Islands. 

"The  total  weight  of  food  fishes  taken  during  the 
season  in  1911  was  256,154,109  pounds,  or  more  than 
128,000  tons.  The  total  weight  of  the  prepared  product 
was  177,572,873  pounds,  or  88,786  tons,  valued  at  |1 6,391,^ 
139  for  the  fish  and  whaling  industries,  and  $9,943  for 
other  sea  products,  such  as  crabs,  clams  and  seaweeds, 
making  a  grand  total  of  116,401,802.  (Report  of  governor 
in  1911.)  Seventeen  thousand  nine  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  persons  were  employed  in  the  fishing  industries  and 
the  capital  invested  was: 

In  vessels  of  all  kinds „ $  5,559,534 

Sea  fishing  apparatus 27,782 

Shore  fishing  apparatus 724 ,383 

Shore  property 7,564,023 

Cash  capital  „ _ 8,795,665 


122,671,387 

"Of  this  sum  |19,931,215  was  invested  in  the  salmon 

cannery    industry,    producing   2,823,817    cases    of    salmon, 

valued  at  $14,593,237.     In  1912  the  product  was  4,060,189 

cases,  valued  at  $15,551,794. 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— FISHERIES  73 

The  value  of  mild  cured  salmon  was $419,138 

The  value  of  pickled  salmon  was _ 203,988 

The  value  of  fresh  salmon  was — 108,922 

The  value  of  frozen  salmon  was 18,024 

The  value  of  codfish  was 240,030 

The  value  of  halibut  was  822,370 

The  value  of  herring  was _ 201,909 

The  value  of  whales  was  104,084 

"Several  minor  streams  on  the  islands  and  mainland 
south  of  Juneau,  as  well  as  all  of  Afognak  Island,  south 
of  Cook  Inlet,  are  set  aside  as  reserves  for  "hatcheries" 
and  a  recent  order  extends  this  restriction  to  all  streams 
entering  Cook  Inlet  itself,  thus  covering  all  of  the  extensive 
watershed  of  the  Susitna  River." 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— SEALS    AND    FURS. 


The  Seal  Herds — Leasing  System  Abolished — Statistics 
OF  Output — Furs — A  Declining  Industry — Value  of 
Product.  

THE  value  of  the  seal  product  of  1911  was  |416,992; 
the  total  value  up  to  and  including  that  year  was 
$52,252,135.  The  vast  herds  of  seals  which  annually 
resort  to  the  Pribilof  and  St.  George  Islands  in  Bering 
Sea  for  breeding  purposes  is  estimated  at  123,000.  This 
is  a  slight  increase  over  the  last  previous  count.  The 
former  leasing  system  has  been  abandoned,  the  islands 
now  being  under  the  direct  management  of  the  United 
States  Government.  The  following  statistics  are  taken 
from  the  annual  report  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor: 

1910.  1911. 

Number  of  seal  skins  taken 12,920  12,002 

Gross  receipts  for  same |435,083.90     |415,992.40 

Average  per  skin „. 33.68  34.74 

Net  receipts  for  same* 403,946.94       385,862.28 

Estimated  receipts  to  United  States 

under  old  lease  system 131,007.00       122,720.45 

"These  herds,  numbering  123,600,  are  all  that  are  left 
of  the  4,000,000  to  5,000.000  which  formerly  made  these 
islands  in  Bering  Sea  their  summer  rendezvous,  overkilling, 
raids  by  poachers  of  various  nationalities,  and  pelagic,  or 
open  sea  killing,  having  wrought  the  destruction.     Under 


♦From  which  must  be  deducted  the  costs  of  management. 

(74) 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— SEALS  AND  FURS  75 

present  conditions  and  the  stoppage  of  pelagic  sealing,  the 
herds  seem  to  be  increasing  in  number." 


Furs. — The  value  of  the  fur  catch  of  Alaska  in  1912 
was  $370,510,  and  the  total  value  up  to  and  including  that 
year  was  |22,216,872.  As  is  well  known,  the  number  of 
fur-bearing  animals  in  Alaska  is  now  much  less  than  in 
the  period  of  Russian  occupation.  Nevertheless,  the  yearly 
output  of  valuable  skins  constitutes  an  important  industry. 


Regulations  for  the  protection  of  fur-bearing  animals 
in  Alaska  were  promulgated  on  June  4,  1914,  by  Secretary 
Redfleld,  of  the  Department  of  Commerce.  They  were  issued 
in  accordance  with  the  Act  of  Congress  which  gave  the  secre- 
tary authority  to  protect  the  seal  fisheries  of  Alaska,  and  be- 
come effective  at  once.  Under  the  new  regulations  the  hunt- 
ing or  killing  of  seal  otter  is  prohibited  until  November  1, 
1920 ;  and  beaver  until  November  1, 1918.  Closed  seasons  are 
also  prescribed  as  follows : 

On  land  otter  and  mink  from  April  1  to  November  15, 
of  each  year;  on  marten  (American  Sable)  from  March  15 
to  November  15;  on  weasel  (ermine)  from  March  15  to 
November  15 ;  on  musk  rat  from  June  1  to  November  30 ;  on 
lynx  (wildcat)  from  March  1  to  November  15;  and  on  fox 
from  March  15  to  November  15. 

The  killing  of  black  bear,  wolf,  wolverine,  squirrel  and 
hare  (rabbit)  is  permitted  at  all  times  and  land  otter  and 
mink  may  be  taken  alive  for  breeding  purposes  at  any  time 
except  from  April  1  to  June  30  of  each  year.  Marten  can 
also  be  taken  alive  for  breeding  purposes  except  from  March 
15  to  June  30  each  year,  and  foxes  except  from  March  15  to 
June  30. 

The  use  of  poison  in  the  killing  of  fur-bearing  animals 
is  prohibited  at  all  times,  as  also  is  the  killing  of  any  animal 
whose  skin  or  pelt  is  not  prime.  Heavy  penalties  are  pro- 
vided for  violation  of  the  regulations. 


CHAPTER    IX. 


VALUE    OF    ALASKA— AGRICULTURE. 


The  Future  Great  Productive  Industry — Sources  op 
Information — Progress  of  Land  Surveys — Provisions 
OF  THE  Homestead  Law  —  Farming  Conditions  — 
Cattle,  Sheep  and  Horses — Work  of  the  Experi- 
mental Stations — Reindeer  Industry. 


THIS  brief  compilation  of  the  agricultural  capabilities 
of  Alaska,  under  the  several  heads  indicated,  is 
taken  from  the  agricultural  reports  of  the  United 
States  Government,  and  from  those  of  Prof.  C.  C.  George- 
son,  special  agent  in  charge  of  Alaskan  Experimental 
Stations. 

It  is  estimated  that  approximately  100,000  square 
miles  of  valley  lands,  with  their  adjacent  low  foothills, 
are  available  as  arable  and  grazing  land,  comprising  the 
valleys  of  the  Yukon,  Tanana,  Susitna,  Copper  River,  and 
portions  of  the  Kuskokwim,  with  lesser  areas  on  the  minor 
streams,  as  well  as  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Kenat 
Peninsula,  and  the  Alaska  Peninsula,  including  its  adjacent 
islands. 

During  the  last  two  years  the  Government  has  sur- 
veyed and  sectionized  some  200,000  acres  in  the  Susitna, 
Tanana  and  Copper  Tliver  Valleys,  all  this  area  being  open 
to  homestead  settlement  in  tracts  of  320  acres,  with  a 
three  years'  residence,  the  time  to  run  not  from  the  time 
of  location,  but  from  the  date  of  actual*  occupation  by 
residence.     The  provisions  of  this  law  are  as  follows: 

"When  proving  up  it  must  be  shown: 

(76) 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— AGRICULTURE  77 

"That  at  least  one-eighth  of  the  area  embraced  in  the  ) 
entry  was  continuously  cultivated  to  agricultural  crops,  / 
other  than  native  grasses,  beginning  with  the  second  year  I  ^^^^c 
of  the  entry;  and  that  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  area  / 
embraced  in  the  entry  was  so  continuously  cultivated  with^ 
the  third  year  of  the  entry." 

From  the  same  source  of  information,  Captain  Stretch 
has  made  the  following  valuable  condensation: 

"Agriculture  in  Alaska  at  its  best  should  follow  as  an 
adjunct  to  other  occupations,  to  the  workers  in  which, 
products  of  the  farm  may  be  sold  without  undue  tax  on  the 
same  for  transportation ;  and  wherever  practiced,  in  Alaska 
as  elsewhere,  calls  for  a  study  of  the  soil  and  crops  suitable 
to  its  differing  composition  and  aspect.  Methods  suitable 
in  one  part  of  the  country  may  be  unsuitable  for  others. 
Bottom  lands  producing  a  rank  growth  of  grass  may  be 
too  cold  and  sour  for  root  crops,  until  thoroughly  broken 
up  and  cultivated  so  as  to  let  in  the  air  and  assist  de- 
composition of  the  dead  vegetation  which  takes  place  but 
slowly  in  ground  saturated  with  water.  Where  drainage 
is  absent  or  very  imperfect  the  result  is  swampy  ground, 
known  in  the  North  as  "tundra"  or  "muskeg,"  in  which  the 
dead  vegetation,  instead  of  being  transformed  into  soil 
through  the  processes  of  decay,  is  slowly  converted  into 
peat,  or  turf,  as  it  is  called  in  Ireland,  to  become  in 
time  an  imperfect  coal. 

"In  some  sections  the  soil  is  covered  with  a  thick  layer 
of  moss,  which  is  almost  impenetrable  to  the  warmth  of  the 
sun,  but  when  this  is  removed,  the  ground  quickly  thaws 
out  on  advent  of  summer,  for  the  seasons  change  so  rapidly 
in  the  North  that  what  is  called  Spring  elsewhere  is  almost 
an  unknown  thing  in  interior  Alaska.  As  if  aware  of  the 
necessity  of  being  wide-awake,  nature  wastes  no  time  in 
preliminary  skirmishes.  The  best  lands  are  the  gently 
sloping  hills  composed  of  silt  and  fine  gravel,  which  are 
also  those  on  which  the  birch  makes  its  best  growth,  these 
lands  having  been  enriched  by  the  leaves  of  the  deciduous 


78  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING   TO    THE   WORLD 

trees  and  drained  of  standing  water.  Good  judgment, 
otherwise  called  common  sense,  and  the  habit  of  observa- 
tion are  as  essential  in  farming  as  in  any  other  business. 

"The  prospective  farmer  must  not  picture  miles  of 
waving  grain  fields  as  in  California  or  Washington,  or 
the  Middle  West.  For  his  profits  he  must  look  to  a  diversi- 
fied product,  which  shall  furnish  his  table  with  the  neces- 
sary things  of  life,  leaving  him  more  than  one  article 
with  which  to  satisfy  the  appetites  of  the  consumers  to 
whom  he  may  sell  the  balance. 

''Lastly  it  should  be  clearly  understood  that  for  the 
present,  at  least,  farming  must  partake  more  or  less  of 
the  character  of  market  gardening  around  the  mining  cen- 
ters, gradually  expanding  as  these  industries  also  grow; 
remembering  also  that  on  those  things  which  can  be 
grown  in  Alaska,  but  if  not  grown  in  Alaska  must  be 
imported  from  the  outside,  the  cost  of  ocean  transportation 
will  also  be  in  favor  of  the  farmer.  The  consensus  of 
opinion  by  those  who  have  made  a  special  study  of  the 
subject  in  all  its  aspects,  not  only  in  theory,  but  by  actual 
experience  on  the  ground,  is  that  many  thousands  of 
Europe's  population  would  gain  by  change  of  residence, 
especially  those  who  have  been  living  in  similar  latitudes 
under  similar  conditions;  and  did  our  ideas  of  government 
permit  we  might  well  extend  to  the  settlers  at  least  some 
of  the  favors,  by  means  of  which  Kussia  is  peopling  the  wild 
regions  of  Siberia,  at  the  rate  of  millions  annually,  a 
land,  too,  which  for  more  than  two  centuries  has  owned  a 
reputation  as  bad  as  that  of  Alaska  in  the  Eastern  states. 

"A  similar  policy  is  peopling  the  western  countries 
of  Canada,  viz.:  free  land,  free  seeds  and  financial  assist- 
ance during  the  first  year,  where  such  aid  is  wanted.  In 
contrast  with  these  inducements,  it  seems  to  be  our  policy 
to  burden  the  settlers  with  conditions  almost  prohibitive 
in  some  respects,  shutting  out  many  who  might  otherwise 
become  good  and  valuable  citizens.  Certainly  our  policy 
has   sent   many   hundreds   to  countries   with   more   liberal 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— AGRICULTURE  79 

ideas  and  a  better  understanding  of  the  early  years  of 
pioneer  life.  There  is  room  enough  and  to  spare  for  thou- 
sands of  settlers  who  are  not  of  the  class  who  desire  to 
farm  thousands  of  acres  to  one  crop  with  machinery  both 
mechanical  and  human." 


Cattle,  Sheep  and  Horses. — The  government  experi- 
mental stations  at  Sitka,  Kenai,  Copper  Center,  Rampart, 
Tanana  and  Fairbanks  have  so  far  been  devoted  to  ex- 
perimental vegetable  developments,  while  that  on  Kodiak 
Island  has  paid  attention  to  the  cultivation  of  farming 
stock,  more  particularly  cattle  and  sheep,  as  a  source  of 
beef  and  dairy  supply.  All  the  people  of  Alaska  are 
aware  that  cattle  thrive  during  the  summer  from  the 
Yukon  Valley  southward,  as  large  herds  have  been  taken 
in  over  the  trails,  living  en  route  on  the  native  grasses^ 
and  reaching  their  destination  in  good  condition.  Cows 
for  milk  and  butter  purposes  are  kept  near  all  the  prin- 
cipal towns,  and  at  many  of  the  stopping  places  on  the 
roads  and  trails. 

The  work  of  the  experimental  stations  is  not  for 
the  purpose  of  establishing  these  facts  which  are  well 
known,  but  with  a  view  to  selecting  the  kind  of  stock 
best  suited  to  the  country, — stock  that  will  require  the 
least  winter  feeding.  In  this  the  stations  are  succeeding, 
so  that,  within  a  reasonable  period  we  may  expect  to  see 
vast  herds  roaming  over  the  Alaska  country  just  as  we 
now  do  over  the  plains  of  Montana. 

The  winter  temperatures  are  much  less  severe  than 
on  the  high  cattle  ranges  of  the  Middle  West.  Native 
grasses  are  abundant  and  nutritious.  In  view  of  these 
facts  we  can  see  that  Alaska,  in  a  few  years  will  not 
only  supply  meat  to  its  own  population,  but  will  have 
a  great  surplus  for  export. 

The  whole  region  lies  south  of  the  southern  extreme  of 
Norway.     It  is  well   known   that  dairying  is   one  of  the 


80  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

principal  industries  of  that  country.  The  cattle  in  Nor- 
way, however,  are  said  to  be  of  an  inferior  type;  hence, 
the  object  of  the  Alaska  experimental  stations  is  to  find 
breeds  best  adapted  to  the  country.  The  latter  is  an  im- 
portant consideration  where  hay  making  may  be  inter- 
fered with  by  rain. 

It  is  properly  observed  that  as  Alaska  grows,  more  and 
more  cattle  will  be  kept  in  the  vicinity  of  the  towns, 
where  barley,  oats  and  timothy  will  be  grown  for  hay  and 
ensilage,  supplemented  by  root  crops,  as  in  other  countries, 
and  a  large  part  of  the  added  cost  of  keep  will  be  returned 
in  the  value  of  the  manure  and  the  maintenance  of  the 
fertility  of  the  soil.  Unquestionably  the  silo  will  be  an 
essential  feature  in  the  equipment  of  every  farmer  in 
Alaska. 

''For  range  and  general  purposes  the  Galloway  breed, 
from  the  northern  parts  of  the  British  Isles,  has  proved  a 
good  type,  being  hardy,  gentle  and  of  fair  size.  The 
tourist  may  find  small  numbers  of  Jerseys  and  Herefords 
on  his  travels,  but  he  will  always  look  in  vain  for  the  long- 
horned  steers  of  Texas,  or  the  semi-wild  herds  of  Wyoming. 
Success  will  be  attained  chiefly,  as  in  the  older  countries 
of  Europe,  through  many  individuals  each  keeping  a  com- 
paratively small  number,  the  total  making  a  large  aggre- 
gate."   

It  should  be  stated  that  the  sheep  on  Kodiak  and 
Raspberry  islands  have  done  well,  experience  showing  that 
the  long-haired  breeds  are  best  adapted  to  the  moist  coast 
climates,  as  the  fleece  sheds  the  rain  more  rapidly  than 
the  thick,  short  wool  of  the  others.  On  Raspberry  Island 
near  Kodiak  there  is  a  band  of  five  hundred  or  upwards 
doing  well.  

As  is  well  known,  horses  are  in  general  use  in  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  Territory,  both  as  draft  and  pack  animals, 
their  more  extensive  use  being  limited  chiefly  by  the  ab- 
sence of  good  roads.     Where  such  exist  they  are  used  on 


I 


HAYFIELD  NEAR  FAIRBANKS,  ALASKA 


Mi 


t<Litf' 


CABBAGE  PATCH,  TANANA  VALLEY,  ALASKA 


VALUE  OF  ALASKA— AGRICULTURE  81 

the  winter  stage  lines  and  may  be  utilized  in  summer  by 
the  farmer  when  these  routes  are  closed.  Abundance  of 
hay  and  grain  may  be  raised  in  the  interior  for  winter  use. 
''One  hundred  and  seventy-five  horses  form  the  equip- 
ment of  the  Fairbanks-Chitina-Valdez  stage  line,  and  an 
equal  ■  number  are  used  on  the  White  Pass  Route  from 
Dawson  to  Whitehorse,  and  so  far  as  their  ability  to  stand 
the  climate  is  concerned,  the  only  difference  lies  in  the 
greater  length  of  the  winter  months  in  the  North,  involving 
more  winter  feeding;  this  again  being  offset  by  the  higher 
prices  obtained  for  their  labor.  The  small,  tough  ponies 
so  common  in  Norway  have  not  yet  been  introduced, 
although  they  fill  such  a  useful  place  in  that  country  and 
ought  to  be  easily  acclimated." 


Reindeer. — As  elsewhere  stated  the  reindeer  industry 
is  becoming  an  important  one  in  Alaska.  Official  reports 
say  that  the  enormous  destruction  of  game,  seals  and  wal- 
rus having  reduced  many  of  the  natives  to  the  verge  of 
starvation,  the  United  States  government  imported  from 
Siberia,  in  the  years  1891  and  1902,  twelve  hundred  and 
eighty  head  of  reindeer,  the  descendants  of  which  now  num- 
ber approximately  thirty-eight  thousands,  with  an  annual 
increase  of  about  30  per  cent.  At  the  close  of  1913  there 
were  over  sixty-two  herds  and  46,000  animals. 


CHAPTER    X. 


GRAINS,    GRASSES,    VEGETABLES,    FRUITS. 


Good  Success  with  Oats^  Barley  and  Rye  —  Favorable 
Indications  op  Experiments  with  Wheat  —  Rapid 
Growth  and  Abundance  of  Grasses  —  Abundant 
Growth  op  Timothy  —  Vegetables  a  Splendid  Crop 
IN  Nearly  all  Sections  —  Extensive  Varieties  of 
Potatoes  —  Wild  and  Cultivated   Fruits   Abundant. 


IT  has  been  fully  demonstrated  that  oats,  barley  and 
rye  can  be  grown  successfully  in  Alaska.  This  is  in 
evidence  at  the  experimental  stations  in  the  Yukon- 
Tanana  valleys,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Copper  River,  and 
at  the  farms  round  Fairbanks  and  in  the  Susitna  Valley. 
In  some  of  these  sections  barley  has  been  raised  for  hay 
at  the  rate  of  three  tons  to  the  acre.  Much  time  and 
some  expense  have  been  devoted  to  the  growth  of  all  kinds 
of  grain  from  northern  countries,  with  strong  indications 
of  success.  Handsome  samples  of  wheat  have  been  grown, 
but  this  is  a  more  tender  grain,  and  while  a  large  measure 
of  success  has  attended  the  trials  at  the  experimental 
stations  it  has  not  yet  been  cultivated  on  a  large  scale 
like  the  others.  The  winter  sown  grain  does  well  if  covered 
by  snow,  but  it  is  liable  to  be  frost  killed  on  ground  swept 
bare  by  the  wind. 

"It  is  no  new  thing  to  grow  these  cereals  in  northern 
countries  as  they  mature  rapidly.  At  Uleaborg,  Finland, 
in  the  same  latitude  as  Fairbanks,  oats,  barley  and  rye 
are  staple  crops  and  are  also  largely  grown  in  Northern 
Russia,  requiring  only  from  seventy  to  eighty  days  from 

(82) 


GRAINS,  GRASSES,  VEGETABLES,  FRUITS  83 

seed  to  maturity.  It  is  not  the  intensity  of  the  winter  cold 
which  governs  their  successful  growth;  the  great  point  is 
the  date  at  which  the  ground  attains  a  sufficient  warmth  to 
cause  the  seed  to  germinate  (42  degrees  for  wheat)  and 
a  sufficient  time  thereafter  to  mature  it.  Persons  are  apt 
to  forget  that  long  winter  hours  involve  long  hours  of  day- 
light in  summer,  for  all  parts  of  the  world  receive  the  same 
number  of  hours  of  daylight  though  differently  distributed 
in  the  course  of  the  year.  The  conditions  and  results  in 
the  Tanana  Valley  have  been  chiefly  dealt  with  on  account 
of  its  high  latitude,  for  what  can  be  done  there  can  be  done 
in  the  more  southerly  localities." 


Grasses  grow  rapidly  and  abundantly.  Timothy  springs 
up  wherever  imported  hay  has  been  fed  to  stock  and  is 
rapidly  becoming  acclimated.  Among  the  forty  native 
grasses  red  top  attains  a  growth  breast  high  in  thirty  to 
forty  days  and  also  seems  to  be  the  richest  in  nitrogen 
among  its  congeners.  It  grows  everywhere,  but  is  said  to 
rebel  against  annual  cutting,  so  that  cropping  every  other 
year  is  recommended. 

Several  kinds  of  vetches  and  peas  make  excellent  wild 
fodder,  but  do  not  take  kindly  to  cultivation,  so  that  ex- 
periments are  being  made  with  varieties  of  alfalfa  from 
Siberia,  living  under  conditions  similar  to  those  in  Alaska, 
the  same  being  the  case  with  Siberian  wheat. 

"The  results  hitherto  attained  by  the  unobtrusive  work 
of  the  laborers  in  the  experimental  stations  is  worthy  of 
all  praise  not  only  for  those  already  obtained,  but  for 
those  to  come  and  measurably  in  sight." 


Yegetables. — Magnificent  vegetables  are,  or  may  be 
raised  in  all  parts  of  Alaska,  except  on  the  tundras  and 
mountains.  Strangers  visiting  the  country  generally  are 
surprised  at  the  splendid  vegetables  exhibited,  native  to 
the  country,  wherever  they  go.  These  include  all  the 
products  of  the  temperate  zone  in  America,  and  the  Seattle- 


S4  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Alaska  bureau  has  in  its  exhibit  potatoes,  turnips,  beets, 
rutabagas,  sugar  beets,  carrots,  parsnips,  kohlrabi,  celery, 
rhubarb,  radishes,  onions,  cabbage,  cucumbers,  peas  and 
even  tomatoes,  and  in  one  or  two  very  favored  spots  even 
melons  have  ripened.  The  samples  both  for  size  and  qual- 
ity will  compare  with  the  markets  of  New  York,  although 
grown  more  than  1,500  miles  north  of  that  city.  Every 
family  can  have  its  garden,  which  will  not  only  furnish 
the  necessities  of  life  but  will  beautify  the  home  with  a 
wealth  of  flowers.  These  facts  have  become  so  well  known 
that  notice  of  them  has  practically  disappeared  from  the 
reports  of  the  agricultural  stations,  but  as  the  potato  is 
so  important  an  item  in  the  daily  menu,  every  efifort  is 
being  put  forth  to  secure  those  varieties  best  adapted  to 
the  climatic  conditions  of  rainfall  and  sunshine.  The 
following  facts  are  from  the  latest  reports  of  the  station 
located  at  Fairbanks  in  the  Tanana  Valley,  only  about  a 
hundred  miles  south  of  the  Arctic  circle: 

Twenty-seven  varieties  of  potatoes  were  cultivated  dur- 
ing the  season  of  1911,  of  which  three  were  planted  on  June 
1,  nine  on  June  9  and  the  remainder  on  June  10.  They 
matured  between  September  11  and  22,  with  a  yield  at  a 
rate  varying  from  7,260  to  18,876  pounds  per  acre  on  the 
experimental  plats.  In  the  open  field  three  varieties  pro- 
duced five  tons  per  acre  after  sorting  and  grading  on  sec- 
ond year  unfertilized  ground.  The  character  of  the  potato 
depends  much  on  the  kind  of  soil  and  method  of  cultiva- 
tion. The  best  results  are  said  to  be  secured  by  allowing 
the  potato  to  sprout  and  setting  them  out  on  the  surface 
of  the  ground  with  plenty  of  room  between  the  rows;  then 
covering  with  about  an  inch  of  dirt,  to  be  subsequently  well 
ridged  up.  On  a  gentle  southern  exposure  of  silty  soil, 
such  as  is  favored  by  the  birch,  potatoes  grow  to  a  large 
size  and  possess  a  fine,  mealy  texture. 

Cabbages  from  department  seed  made  heads  weighing 
from  eight  to  twelve  pounds.     Cauliflower  was  as  fine  as 


GRAINS,  GRASSES,  VEGETABLES,  FRUITS  85 

grown  in  any  country.  One  gardener  claims  to  have  sold 
sixteen  tons  of  cabbage  from  half  an  acre  in  1910. 

There  are  several  notices  of  the  growth  of  sugar  beets 
(but  no  information  as  to  their  sugar  contents)  and  these 
with  other  root  crops,  such  as  rutabagas  and  carrots,  can 
be  grown  in  quantity  for  winter  feed  to  stock. 

As  stated,  the  foregoing  information  is  compiled  from 
United  States  Agricultural  reports,  and  from  those  of  Prof. 
C.  C.  Georgeson,  in  charge  of  the  Experimental  Stations. 
Summing  up  the  situation,  the  latter  says:  ''All  these 
vegetables  can  be  grown  and  are  grown  as  far  up  as  the 
Arctic  Circle  and  beyond.  This  is  not  saying  that  they  can 
be  grown  with  equal  success  in  all  places  and  in  all  condi- 
tions, for  on  this  point  the  elevation,  rainfall,  soil  and  local 
conditions  as  to  climate  are  important  factors.  Nor  do  I 
say  that  there  is  not  now  and  then  a  cold  summer,  in  which 
only  the  hardiest  of  these  things  make  satisfactory  growth. 
But  under  normal  conditions  and  with  good  culture  all  of 
these  vegetables  are  grown  successfully  even  beyond  the 
Arctic  Circle."  

Wild  Fruits  abound  in  Alaska.  Indeed  the  Territory 
is  a  land  of  berries,  not  only  in  quantity  but  variety,  in- 
cluding currants,  strawberries,  raspberries,  blueberries, 
huckleberries,  cranberries  and   salmon  berries. 

The  immense  profusion  of  some  of  these  berries  in  some 
localities  suggests  an  opening  for  their  use  commercially, 
as  canned  products  and  preserves,  especially  in  the  case 
of  the  blueberries,  huckleberries  and  currants,  which  for 
size  and  flavor  are  unsurpassed  anywhere.  In  Southeastern 
Alaska,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  canneries  where  steam 
could  be  obtained  cheaply,  their  profusion  will  relieve  the 
small  settlers  of  the  necessity  of  their  cultivation. 

Cultivated  Fruits. — Capt.  Stretch  in  his  able  compila- 
tion writes: 

"Nearly  all  the  hardy  fruit  bushes  do  remarkably  well 
in    Southeastern   Alaska,   and   the   currant   and   raspberry 


86  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

also  do  well  all  over  the  iDterior.  The  same  may  be  said 
of  the  strawberry  in  a  more  limited  degree  as  to  localities. 

"Gooseberries  do  well  in  the  Pacific  Coast  belt,  but  it 
seems  probable  that  blackberries,  dewberries,  loganberries 
and  grapes  will  not  thrive  in  Alaska,  for  while  experi- 
mental plants  have  lived  for  several  years,  they  never 
fruited. 

''Experiments  with  apples,  plums  and  cherries  have  not 
been  eminently  successful  up  to  this  time,  although  there  is 
a  native  crabapple  growing  extensively  in  some  sections, 
especially  the  Susitna  Valley.  The  Sitka  experimental  sta- 
tion reports  a  small  degree  of  success  with  apples  and 
cherries,  but  none  with  plums." 


CHAPTER  XI. 


FORESTS  OF  ALASKA. 


Sources  of  Information — The  Great  Forest  Reserves — 
The  Present  Lumber  Product  —  An  Important 
Wealth-Producing  Industry. 


THE  timber  of  Alaska  properly  is  registered  among 
the  most  valuable  assets  of  the  country.  The  fol- 
lowing summary  of  the  forests  of  Alaska  is  made 
up  from  the  official  report  of  R.  S.  Kellogg,  assistant  for- 
ester in  1910,  and  the  report  of  the  Governor  of  Alaska 
for  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  31,  1912. 

The  total  area  of  the  forests  and  woodlands  in  the 
Territory  is  estimated  at  about  100,000,000  acres,  or  156,- 
250  square  miles,  or  27  per  cent  of  the  total  area.  Of  this 
about  20,000,000  acres,  or  31,250  square  miles,  are  esti- 
mated as  containing  timber  suitable  for  manufacturing 
purposes,  which  is  more  than  the  area  of  South  Carolina 
and  nearly  that  of  Maine  or  Indiana.  Of  the  remaining 
80  per  cent,  or  125,000  square  miles,  one-half  is  classed  as 
woodland,  carrying  some  saw  timber,  but  on  which  the 
forest  trees  are  of  a  small  size,  more  scattered  and  valu- 
able chiefly  for  fuel ;  the  tree  growth  on  the  remainder 
being  stunted,  scrubby  and  valueless  for  any  purpose  ex- 
cept the  camp  fires  of  the  prospector.  The  region  north  of 
the  Endicott  Mountains,  all  of  the  shores  of  Bering  Sea, 
and  the  Alaska  Peninsula,  south  of  Illiamna  Lake,  are 
practically  destitute  of  timber,  producing  nothing  larger 
than  willows  of  very  small  growth,  and  those  only  in  a 
few  localities. 

(87) 


88  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

The  forest  reserves  are  the  Tongass  National  Forest, 
covering  the  entire  Southeastern  Archipelago,  and  the  Chu- 
<i;u  li  Kesei-ve  with  a  width  of  about  100  miles  extends  along 
the  shores  of  the  Pacific  from  the  Malaspina  Glacier  to  the 
Kenai  Peninsula.  These  two  reserves  contain  26,761,626 
acres,  or  41,815  square  miles,  and  include  the  great  bulk 
of  the  merchantable  lumber  trees.  The  trees  suitable  for 
lumber  on  the  coast  region  are  in  point  of  numbers  and 
value,  the  w^estern  hemlock,  the  Sitka  spruce,  western  red 
cedar  and  yellow  or  Alaska  cedar.  The  forests  are  dense 
and  as  much  as  25,000  feet  per  acre  have  been  estimated 
for  considerable  tracts,  of  which  20  per  cent  is  spruce,  75 
per  cent  hemlock,  and  the  remainder  cedar  and  other  tim- 
ber trees.  The  spruce  reaches  a  large  size,  up  to  six  feet  in 
diameter  and  a  height  of  one  hundred  and  fifty.  Diam- 
eters of  three  or  four  feet  are  attained  by  the  cedars.  The 
growth  is  fairly  rapid,  spruce  logs  averaging  32  inches  in 
diameter  averaged  262  annual  rings;  two  others  54  inches 
in  diameter  showed  525  and  600  rings. 

The  forests  of  the  interior  are  practically  all  included 
in  the  drainage  basins  of  the  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  Rivers, 
and  are  of  a  more  deciduous  type,  saw  timber  being  secured 
from  the  white  spruce  and  cordwood  from  the  white  birch, 
poplar,  balsam  poplar,  black  cottonwood  and  aspen.  The 
timber  is  small ;  white  spruce  and  balsam  poplar  sometimes 
attain  a  diameter  of  18  to  24  inches,  while  birch  and  aspen 
average  about  eight  inches,  running  up  to  18  in  favorable 
localities.  Other  trees  are  smaller.  The  white  spruce  and 
balsam  poplar  grow  to  75  feet;  birch,  aspen  and  poplar 
to  50;  black  spruce  from  20  to  40,  and  tamarack  seldom 
over  30.  Twenty-five  spruce  logs  32  feet  long  and  slightly 
over  eleven  inches  in  diameter  showed  an  average  of  104 
annual  rings,  indicating  a  growth  of  one  inch  in  nearly 
nine  years,  thus  comparing  favorably  with  the  growth  of 
red  spruce  in  New  York  and  New  England. 

Speaking  of  the  utilization  of  the  forests  of  Alaska, 
Capt.  Stretch  says :    "The  amount  of  lumber  at  present  used 


FORESTS  OF  ALASKA  89 

annually  in  the  Fairbanks  region  by  the  quartz  mines  is 
small,  a  recent  estimate,  covering  the  years  1909,  1910, 
1911,  1912,  placing  it  at  900,000  feet,  and  the  annual  cut  for 
all  purposes  is  estimated  at  about  4,000,000. 

"The  cut  for  fuel  is  placed  at  60,000  cords,  of  which 
Fairbanks  is  said  to  consume  about  15,000  to  20,000  cords. 
The  present  price  of  rough  native  lumber  at  Fairbanks  is 
stated  to  be  $40  per  thousand  and  cord  wood  brings  from 
|5  to  $16  a  cord,  varying  with  the  place  of  delivery,  being  a 
reminder  of  the  days  on  the  old  Comstock  Lode  in  Nevada 
when  $14  to  $16  was  the  ruling  price,  according  to  quality. 

"For  the  fiscal  year  ending  June  31,  1912,  44,647,410 
feet,  board  measure,  were  cut  in  the  two  national  forests. 
At  least  90  per  cent  of  the  total  revenues  of  the  reserves 
comes  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  fisheries.  At  least  80 
per  cent  of  the  lumber  sawed  at  the  various  mills  was  used 
by  the  fishing  industries.  The  sum  of  $914.50,  or  1.7  per 
cent  of  the  total  receipts  of  the  national  forests  in  Alaska, 
came  from  the  mining  industries,  and  four  of  the  largest 
producing  companies  on  the  Tongass,  and  one  on  the  Chu- 
gach  Reservation  purchased  timber  of  a  stumpage  value  of 
only  $893.40.  (All  other  timber  and  lumber  was  imported.) 
The  expenses  for  the  fiscal  year  were  $35,602.92,  and  the 
receipts  $46,949.26. 

"The  lumber  industry  is  evidently  capable  of  enor- 
mous expansion  and  an  untold  wealth  of  wood  pulp  for 
paper  is  locked  up  in  these  now  silent  forests.  Recently 
the  government  has  advertised  300,000,000  feet  of  lumber 
for  sale,  and  two  large  pulp  mills  are  said  to  be  contem- 
plated in  the  immediate  future,  for  the  southeastern 
forests." 


CHAPTER  XII. 


WILD  GAME  ANIMALS. 


Source  of  Information — Moose  of  Alaska — The  Caribou 
— Mountain  Sheep  and  Goat — Variety  of  Bears — 
The  Walrus — Wild  Game  Birds. 


THE  following  important  observations  on  the  Alaska 
moose,  mountain  sheep,  mountain  goat,  deer  and  cari- 
bou are  condensed  from  the  reports  of  W.  H.  Osgood, 
assistant  biologist,  Department  of  Agriculture : 

The  moose  is  the  largest  member  of  the  deer  family  in 
the  world,  exceeding  in  size  the  moose  of  eastern  North 
America  and  the  elk  of  the  old  world.  They  are  generally 
distributed  throughout  the  timbered  portion,  except  in  the 
southeastern  coast  region,  where  they  are  absent.  On  the 
Alaska  Peninsula  they  range  to  the  limit  of  timber  and 
in  the  north  and  west  likewise  reach  the  edge  of  the  tundra. 
They  range  above  timber  line,  but  most  of  their  time  is 
spent  in  the  woods  at  moderate  elevations,  or  in  river  bot- 
toms with  ponds  and  dense  growths  of  willow  and  alder. 
The  calves  are  born  during  May  and  June  and  follow 
the  cows  until  next  spring  or  later.  Beyond  doubt  they 
are  most  abundant  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula  and  attain  a 
larger  size,  but  they  are  also  fairly  common  near  Circle 
City  and  many  less  known  localities. 

The  Caribou  inhabits  the  treeless  and  semi-treeless 
parts  of  Alaska,  including  the  bare  mountain  ridges  of  the 
interior,  and  the  open  rolling  tundras  of  the  coast  from 
the   Arctic  to  the  Pacific   side  of  the   Alaska  Peninsula, 

(90) 


WILD  GAME  ANIMALS  91 

where  the  so-called  reindeer  moss  on  which  they  largely 
feed  is  most  abundant. 

They  scatter  widely  in  summer  and  in  the  fall  col- 
lect in  large  herds,  but  at  all  times  they  roam  widely.  The 
great  herds  in  the  fall  of  the  year  perform  a  more  or  less 
regular  movement  in  the  nature  of  a  migration,  and  with- 
in certain  limits  their  course  of  travel  and  times  of  ar- 
rival at  given  points  are  well  known.  Except  on  the 
Alaska  Peninsula  caribou  are  very  scarce  on  the  shores 
of  Bering  Sea,  where  formerly  abundant,  having  been 
driven  out  or  extirpated.  Their  place  is  being  taken  by 
the  reindeer,  which  is  practically  a  domesticated  caribou. 

The  Mountain  Sheep  of  Alaska  is  practically  pure 
white,  somewhat  smaller  and  with  more  slender  horns 
than  the  big-horn  or  Rocky  Mountain  sheep.  It  prefers 
the  higher  altitudes  and  is  usually  most  abundant  about 
the  main  divides  and  the  higher  or  more  central  peaks.  It 
is  not  found  in  the  Alaska  Peninsula  or  the  coastal  slopes 
of  the  mountains  of  Southeastern  Alaska,  but  large  num- 
bers live  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  the  Endicott  Mountains, 
where  they  range  nearly  to  the  coast,  on  Mt.  McKinley 
and  its  adjacent  summits. 

The  Mountain  Goat  is  confined  in  its  range  to  the 
mountains  of  the  Southeast  Archipelago  and  the  adjacent 
mainland,  and  the  high  coastal  peaks  as  far  west  as  the 
western  shores  of  Prince  William  Sound ;  or  roughly 
speaking,  those  regions  from  which  the  mountain  sheep  is 
absent.  It  is  a  bolder  climber  than  even  the  mountain 
sheep  and  may  be  found  in  more  inaccessible  places,  and 
from  such  reasons  its  habits  are  less  perfectly  known. 
Strictly  speaking  it  is  not  a  goat  at  all,  having  many 
peculiarities  common  to  antelopes,  and  finds  its  nearest 
relation  among  the  chamois  of  Europe  and  some  little 
known  Asiatic  forms. 

Only  in  the  southeastern  coast  region  are  deer  abun- 
dant and  in  that  district  only  one  species  is  found,  a  small 
variety    of    the    blacktail,    averaging    not    more    than    100 


92  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

pounds  in  weight.  It  ranges  farther  north  than  any  other 
American  deer  and  was  formerly  so  abundant  that  during 
one  season  2,000  carcasses  were  shipped  from  Wrangel 
alone.  It  ranges  from  sea  level  to  timber  line,  is  a  shy 
animal,  and  might  be  rarely  seen  except  for  its  numbers. 
As  trophies  the  horns  are  of  only  secondary  value. 

Alaska  is  without  rival  in  respect  to  number  and  variety 
of  bear.  No  fewer  than  thirteen  varieties  are  recognized 
by  scientists,  but  they  belong  to  only  four  general  types 
— the  brown,  the  grizzlies,  the  black  and  polar  bears.  The 
brown  bears  are  the  most  numerous  and  are  more  nearly 
related  to  the  brown  bear  of  the  old  world  than  to  the 
other  American  species.  They  are  of  huge  size  and  larger 
than  any  others  except  the  polar  bears  and  their  relatives 
of  Kamchatka,  and  enjoy  a  reputation  for  ferocity  equal 
to  that  of  the  grizzlies.  They  are  found  on  Kodiak  Island, 
the  Alaska  Peninsula,  in  the  Yakutat  region  and  on  Baron- 
off  and  Admiralty  islands — those  on  these  last  islands 
being  smaller  varieties  than  those  of  the  mainland  and 
Kodiak  Island,  on  which  they  appear  to  attain  their  max- 
imum size,  and  have  therefore  become  known  as  the 
Kodiak  bear. 

The  grizzly  bears  are  generally  distributed  through  the 
Kenai  Peninsula  and  adjacent  regions,  but  are  probably 
most  abundant  in  the  Endicott  Range  in  the  north,  and 
the  Nusotin  and  Mount  McKinley  ranges  in  Central 
Alaska.  They  spend  the  summers  chiefly  above  and  near 
timber  line  and  roam  largely. 

Black  bears  are  fairly  common  all  through  Alaska,  the 
cinnamon  variety,  however,  being  almost  unknown  near 
the  coast.  They  are  shy  animals  and  their  presence  may 
often  be  overlooked.  A  peculiar  and  rare  variety,  known 
as  the  blue  or  glacier  bear,  is  found  on  the  southern  slopes 
of  the  St.  Elias  Range,  but  its  habits  are  practically 
unknown,  few  if  any  perfect  specimens  being  in  existence 
in  museums.  In  color  it  is  silvery  grey,  sometimes  with 
a  blueish  tinge,  the  nose  black  and  the  feet  brown. 


1 


WILD  GAME  ANIMALS  93 

The  polar  bear  is  known  to  everybody,  from  pictures 
at  least.  They  are  the  largest  of  bears  and  not  found  south 
of  the  Arctic  Ocean.  Bears  are  omniverous  feeders.  In 
berry  time  they  largely  subsist  on  these  fruits,  but  accord- 
ing to  the  season  of  the  year,  or  locality,  they  eat  salmon, 
shellfish,  kelp  and  seaweed,  squirrel,  mice,  roots  and 
undoubtedly  at  times  such  large  game  as  they  may  catch 
unawares. 

The  walrus  is  now  found  only  occasionally  south  of  the 
Arctic  Circle,  those  which  formerly  herded  on  Bristol 
Bay  and  other  localities  having  been  practically  exter- 
minated. 


Wild  Game  Birds. — Alaska  is  the  great  breeding 
ground  of  the  water  birds  which  annually  migrate 
southerly  in  the  winter.  These  include  ducks,  geese,  swans 
and  a  host  of  other  shore  birds,  such  as  snipe,  curlews 
and  sand-pipers,  which  all  resort  in  thousands  to  the  open 
tundras  and  valleys  of  the  far  North  during  the  breeding 
season;  but  the  number  seems  to  be  decreasing,  owing  to 
the  annual  winter  slaughter  in  their  southern  haunts. 

Three  varieties  of  ptarmigan  inhabit  all  the  higher 
mountain  tops  of  the  coast  and  interior,  and  the  tundras 
of  Bering  Sea  and  Arctic  Coast,  including  all  the  Aleutian 
Islands.  They  gather  in  immense  flocks  in  the  fall,  at 
which  time  they  lose  their  brown  coloring  and  assume  a 
protective  white,  as  do  the  hares  and  ermines. 

Five  species  of  grouse,  known  as  the  Alaska  spruce 
grouse,  the  gray  ruflfed  grouse,  the  Sooty  grouse,  the 
sharp-tailed  and  the  Franklin  grouse,  are  timber  birds — 
and  one  or  more  of  these  varieties  is  found  generally  over 
the  territory  in  such  localities. 


CHAPTER    XIII. 


FLOWERS,  BIRDS  AND  INSECTS. 


Land  of  Flowers^  Ferxs  and  Mosses — Great  Variety  of 
Beautiful  Flowers — Multitudes  of  Birds  Enliven 
Forest  and   Plain — Insects. 


CONTINUING  to  present  information  gathered  from 
the  source  of  the  last  chapter,  the  following  con- 
densation of  the  flowers,  birds  and  insects  of 
Alaska  is  here  presented.  ''Alaska  is  a  land  of  flowers 
and  ferns  and  mosses,  to  say  nothing  of  its  lichens  and 
mushrooms.  They  spring  up  everywhere  as  soon  as  the 
snow  disappears,  and  it  is  probable  that  more  than  2,000 
species  of  flowering  plants  and  shrubs  find  a  home  within 
it  borders,  to  say  nothing  of  the  hundreds  of  less  conspic- 
uous forms  and  grasses,  of  which  latter  there  are  said 
to  be  more  than  forty  varieties.  Many  of  these  are  species 
common  to  circumpolar  regions,  and  some  of  them  were 
distributed  by  the  Russian  botanists  a  hundred  years  ago, 
so  that  not  a  few  are  the  common  garden  flowers  of  the 
States.  Red  and  yellow  columbines,  blue  lupins,  aconite 
or  monkshood  and  larkspur  give  color  to  the  forest  borders ; 
yellow  and  white  water  lilies  keep  company  with  purple 
flags  in  the  marshy  grounds ;  the  tundras  are  gay  with 
dandelions,  buttercups  and  daisies,  and  the  hillsides  ar^ 
covered  with  acres  of  blue  forget-me-nots,  white  heather 
and  pink  roses,  by  the  hundreds  of  thousands.  The  fire- 
weed  fiaunts  its  magenta  blossoms  everywhere,  while  the 
huge  leaves  of  the  skunk  cabbage  and  devils  club  guard 
the  borders  of  every  runlet  in  company  with  the  riotous 

(94) 


FLOWERS,  BIRDS  AND  INSECTS  95 

salmon  berries.  These  for  the  valleys.  As  you  climb  the 
mountains,  gentians,  saxifrage  and  lady  slippers,  cycla- 
mens and  asters,  and  hundreds  of  others  in  all  colors  and 
names  known  only  to  the  botanists  help  to  paint  the 
picture.  The  white  daisies  of  the  Tanana  rival  the  Shasta 
daisies  of  Burbank  in  size  and  purity  of  color;  violets, 
both  blue  and  yellow,  are  among  the  early  blossoms,  along 
with  the  anemones,  and  the  little  dwarf  dogwood  or  bunch 
berry  in  company  with  the  delicate  wood  fern  carpets  the 
open  wood  with  vivid  green  and  silver  stars,  as  it  does  the 
forests  of  Washington.  This  is  no  land  of  perpetual  ice 
and  snow.  Glaciers  there  are,  as  in  Switzerland,  but  the 
flowers  blossom  at  their  very  feet,  and  it  is  an  easy  matter 
to  gather  a  hundred  varieties  of  flowers  without  walking 
more  than  a  mile  from  home,  unless  it  be  in  the  farthest 
north,  and  even  there  Flora's  footsteps  have  left  some  of 
her  treasures,  be  they  nothing  more  than  the  silken  white 
seed  pods  of  the  rushes,  flecking  the  tundra  like  snow 
drops. 

"With  such  a  variety  and  luxuriance  of  grass  and 
flowers  and  ferns,  it  is  no  wonder  that  the  settlers  are  able 
to  boast  of  beautiful  gardens  round  their  homes.  To  the 
Eastern  tourist,  with  his  or  her  preconceived  ideas,  it  is 
a  constant  source  of  surprise  to  see  pansies,  marigolds, 
poppies  and  nasturtiums  flourishing  on  what  was  supposed 
to  be  a  frozen  wilderness,  while  the  rapidity  with  which 
they  grow  and  become  acclimated  is  astonishing.  The 
California  poppy,  with  its  blazing  orange,  native  though  it 
be  of  warmer  climes,  seeds  itself  as  far  north  as  Fairbanks 
and  Dawson,  and  the  weeds  of  the  States  have  not  been 
slow  to  follow  its  example,  as  witness  the  spread  of  the 
wild  mustard,  bindweed,  dandelion,  wild  chamomile,  chick- 
weed  and  other  pests." 


Birds. — Alaska  is  enlivened  by  an  abundance  of  birds, 
as  well  as  innumerable  water  fowl.    Aside  from  the  natives 


96  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

snch  as  the  ravens,  crows,  hawks,  owls,  eagles,  ptarmigan 
and  grouse,  the  migratory  birds  arrive  in  thousands  about 
the  end  of  April  or  early  in  May.  Comparatively  few 
remain  on  the  coast,  the  main  army  finding  its  way  to 
the  interior  through  the  passes  of  the  Yukon,  Copper  River 
and  Susitna  valleys,  only  to  return  in  August  and  Sep- 
tember on  their  southbound  journey.  Among  these  smaller 
birds  are  the  well-known  robin,  with  its  variegated  cousin; 
five  kinds  of  swallows  and  martins,  as  many  kinds  of 
sparrows  and  tiny  warblers,  in  their  gay  dress  of  green, 
yellow,  black,  brown  and  chestnut,  red  linnets,  wagtails, 
larks,  kingfishers,  bluejays,  Montana  camp  birds,  wood- 
peckers, and  last  and  least,  tiny  copper-hued  humming 
birds,  which  range  up  to  the  Arctic  Circle. 

"The  bird  life  probably  numbers  more  than  200  species, 
while  the  variety  and  numbers  of  the  insect-eating  migra- 
tory forms  is  a  certain  index  of  the  abundance  of  insect 
life." 


Insects. — Besides  the  mosquitoes  and  black  gnats, 
which  undoubtedly  supply  the  greater  part  of  the  food  of 
the  swallow,  two-winged  flies,  ranging  in  size  from  bumble 
bees  to  midgets  no  bigger  than  an  atom  of  dust,  are 
abundant  everywhere  in  infinite  variety  of  forms,  and 
unquestionably  take  the  place  of  bees  in  fertilizing  the 
flowers  by  carrying  the  pollen  from  blossom  to  blossom. 

"Bumblebees  in  black  and  yellow  liveries,  sometimes 
trimmed  with  red,  are  on  the  wing  with  the  opening  of 
the  earliest  cranberry  bells,  even  before  the  snow  is  all 
gone,  but  they  cannot  be  said  to  be  abundant,  neither  can 
the  yellow  jackets  and  hornets,  though  their  nests  may  be 
found  when  least  wanted.  They  are,  however,  expert 
executioners  of  flies  and  invariably  decapitate  them  with 
one  snip  of  the  jaws  before  proceeding  to  dinner.  They 
will  clear  a  tent  of  flies  as  easily  as  a  pinch  of  insect 
powder.      Butterflies,     white,     blue,     copper-colored     and 


FLOWER  GARDEN  AND  CABIN,  FAIRBANKS,  ALASKA 

Photo   by  Curtis  &   Miller.  Courtesy   W.    P.    &   Y.    R. 


CHILDS  GLACIER— ON  THE  COPPER  RIVER  ROUTE 

Photo    by    Curtis    &    Miller. 


FLOWERS,  BIRDS  AND  INSECTS  97 

yellow;  the  big  black  and  yellow  swallow-tail  of  California 
and  the  East,  and  several  other  forms  common  to  the 
Western  States  have  found  a  home  here  also,  and  appear 
to  enjoy  life;  dragon  flies  follow  the  chase  over  the  tun- 
dras, and  whirligig  beetles  waltz  over  the  ponds,  and  it  is 
doubtless  this  fecund  insect  life  which  attracts  so  many 
of  the  smaller  migratory  birds." 


Animal  Life. — Here  is  an  interesting  bit  of  natural 
history:  "The  underworld  of  four-footed  life  is  another 
mystery  of  the  North  to  those  who  have  not  stopped  to 
figure  out  the  ways  in  which  those  we  kill  for  their  furs 
maintain  an  existence.  With  such  a  rank  vegetable  growth 
it  is  easy  to  understand  that  the  muskrats  and  beavers 
have  an  easy  time  of  it,  but  how  about  the  minks  and 
martens,  weasels  and  foxes,  which  are  flesh  eaters  and 
numerous  enough  to  supply  the  market  with  thousands 
of  skins  annually,  to  say  nothing  of  the  owls  which  make 
their  living  when  other  birds  are  asleep.  The  secret  lies 
in  the  variety  and  number  of  the  rats,  mice,  moles  and 
ground  squirrels,  shy  little  animals,  seen  only  now  and 
then  accidentally  in  the  day  time,  but  which  forage  in 
the  night  time  or  in  the  deep  shadows  and  shelter  of  the 
tangled  undergrowth  of  the  woodlands.  We  know  their 
variety,  but  we  can  only  guess  at  their  numbers,  yet  they 
need  to  be  a  prolific  race  to  make  up  for  the  annual 
slaughter  by  their  enemies." 


CHAPTER    I IV. 


THE    ALASKA    OF    TODAY. 


Population — Transportation — Territorial  Legislature — 
The  Future  of  Alaska — Farming — Lack  op  Avail- 
able Markets — Agricultural  Capabilities  of  Alaska 
— Aids  to  Navigation — Labor  Conditions— The  Coal 
Lands  —  Public  Schools  —  Water  Powers  —  Public 
Health — The  Legislature — Commerce — Mail  Service. 


IN  the  contents  of  the  next  preceding  eleven  short 
chapters,  we  have  a  first  view  of  the  value  of  Alaska 
as  a  wealth  producing  country.  The  two  important 
subjects  of  the  scenic  wealth  of  the  great  territory  and 
"Alaska  as  the  Land  of  the  Sportsmen"  are  left  for  later 
consideration.  We  will  now  give  attention  to  a  general 
review  of  the  Alaska  of  today,  which  will  lead  us  to  even 
more  thoroughly  investigate  the  requirements  of  this 
Great  Northland. 

In  pursuance  of  this  plan  I  will  introduce  to  the 
reader.  His  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  Alaska,  the  Hon. 
J.  F.  A.  Strong,  the  right  man  in  the  right  place,  who 
seated  in  the  executive  mansion  of  the  ambitious  young 
Territory,  at  Juneau,  the  capital,  will  tell  you  a  most 
interesting  and  instructive  story  of  Alaska  as  it  was  at 
the  close  of  1913,  according  to  the  terms  of  his  able  and 
exhaustive  report  to  President  Woodrow  Wilson: 


A  more  hopeful  feeling  now  is  evident  among  the 
people  of  Alaska  than  for  several  preceding  years.  This 
is  due  to  the  belief  that  the  Territory  is  about  to  enter 

(98) 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  99 

upon  an  era  of  unparalleled  prosperity,  industrially  and 
commercially.  While  the  rich  placer  gold  fields  of  the 
interior  of  Alaska  and  Seward  Peninsula  no  longer  give 
employment  to  as  great  a  number  of  men  as  in  former 
years,  the  placer  gold  output  still  is  large.  The  old 
methods  of  placer  mining  are  being  displaced,  and  in  some 
districts  the  power  dredge  has  revolutionized  the  methods 
of  mining,  and  alluvial  deposits  carrying  lesser  values 
are  worked  at  a  profit.  In  the  placer  regions,  too,  atten- 
tion now  is  being  directed  to  prospecting  for  quartz, 
especially  on  Seward  Peninsula  and  in  the  Fairbanks 
region  of  the  Tanana  Valley.  In  the  latter  section  a  num- 
ber of  quartz  mines  are  being  developed;  the  cost  of  devel- 
opment has  been  obtained  from  ore  taken  from  the  mine 
in  the  progress  of  development  work.  On  the  Seward  Pen- 
insula there  also  is  considerable  activity  in  quartz  devel- 
opment, including  gold  and  tin  ledges. 


Population. — The  decline  in  placer  mining  by  the  old 
methods  has  resulted  in  a  decrease  of  the  population  in 
the  strictly  gold  placer  regions,  but  on  the  other  hand 
in  other  sections  there  has  been  an  increase  of  population, 
especially  in  Southeastern  Alaska,  due  to  extensive  quartz 
mining  developments,  the  growth  of  the  inshore  and  deep 
sea  fisheries,  and  the  consequent  increase  of  commercial 
business.  It  is  probable,  therefore,  that  the  population 
of  the  Territory  as  a  whole  has  increased  to  some  extent 
during  the  past  year. 

The  census  of  1910  was  the  fourth  enumeration  of  the 
population  of  Alaska  by  the  United  States  Government, 
the  others  having  been  taken  in  1880,  1890,  and  1900.  In 
1880  the  population,  partly  estimated,  was  33,426,  98 
per  cent  being  Indians;  in  1890  the  population  was 
returned  at  32,052,  a  decrease  for  the  decennial  period 
of  1,374.  In  the  following  decade  the  population  nearly 
doubled,  the  great  increase  being  due  to  the  rush  of  gold 


100  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

seekers  in  the  three  years  prior  to  the  census  of  1900,  the 
enumeration  of  that  year  having  returned  a  population  of 
63,592,  an  increase  of  98.4  per  cent. 

Many  of  those  enumerated  in  the  census  of  1900  did 
not  settle  permanently  in  the  country,  and  although  the 
Indians  and  Chinese  decreased  in  number  by  more  than 
6,000  there  was  nevertheless  a  slight  increase  in  the  popu- 
lation  (764,  or  1.2  per  cent)   during  the  decade  1900-1910. 

Alaska,  under  the  terms  of  the  act  of  March  3,  1909,  is 
divided  into  four  judicial  districts.  The  population  in 
1910  of  these  districts  was  as  follows:  First,  15,216; 
second,  12,351;  third,  20,078;   and   fourth,   16,711. 

The  total  area  of  the  Territory  is  590,884  square  miles. 
The  density  of  population  per  square  mile  in  1900  and 
1910  was  0.1;  that  is,  there  was  only  about  one  inhabitant 
to  ten  square  miles  of  area. 

The  white  population  at  the  present  time  is  estimated 
at  36,000. 

Alaska  has  therefore  passed  the  low-water  mark  from 
the  standpoint  of  population,  and,  although  there  has  been 
no  attempt  at  taking  a  census  of  the  inhabitants  (except 
in  a  few  towns)  since  the  last  decennial  census,  it  is  be- 
lieved that  the  population  is  now  slowly  but  permanently 
increasing,  and  that  the  increase  of  native-born  whites  and 
white  immigrants  will  steadily  grow  in  the  coming  years. 
The  number  of  white  males  of  voting  age  in  Alaska  in 
1910  was  28,030,  or  76  per  cent  of  all  males  of  voting  age; 
in  1900  the  corresponding  percentage  was  68.4, 

Various  causes  may  be  assigned  for  the  slow  increase 
in  the  population  of  Alaska.  The  decrease  in  alluvial  or 
placer  mining,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  is  one  of  the 
prime  causes ;  but  a  more  important  cause  lies  in  the  fact 
that  the  Government  policies  that  have  been  pursued, 
instead  of  encouraging  the  development  of  the  Territory's 
vast  natural  resources,  have  had  the  effect  of  discouraging 
the  prospectors  and  miners  who,  in  a  country  such  as  this, 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  101 

are  the  advance  agents  of  development  and  the  couriers  of 
civilization.  Lack  of  transportation  facilities  has  been,  and 
is,  another  potent  cause  which  has  operated  against  the 
development  of  promising  mining  regions;  and  joined  to 
all  this  is  the  additional  embargo  that  has  been  placed 
upon  the  Territory  by  that  Government  policy  which  has 
resulted  in  locking  up  the  coal  areas  of  Alaska,  thus  pre- 
venting their  development,  the  promotion  of  industrial 
and  commercial  activity,  and  the  increase  of  population 
— a  condition,  if  this  policy  were  reversed,  that  would  be 
created  by  the  opportunities  for  labor  and  capital  that 
would  accrue  from  the  establishment  of  new  lines  of 
human  endeavor  and  activity. 


Transportation. — A  comprehensive  system  of  railroads 
for  Alaska  is  a  thing  indispensable  for  the  development  of 
the  country,  because  its  prosperity  and  further  develop- 
ment depend  upon  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  trans- 
portation. This  system  should  not  only  include  one  or 
more  trunk  lines,  from  some  point  or  points  on  the  coast, 
to  the  great  interior  country,  but  it  should  also  embrace 
branch  lines  to  the  coal  fields  and  other  mining  sections 
wherever  practicable.  This  recommendation  is  in  line 
with  the  report  of  the  Alaska  Railroad  Commission,  made 
in  1912,  and  the  railroad  bill  since  passed  by  the  Congress. 

Supplementary  to  railroads,  and  as  producers  of  added 
tonnage  for  railroad  transportation,  there  should  be  a 
largely  increased  appropriation  by  Congress  for  the  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  new  roads  and  trails.  An 
appropriation  by  Congress  of  a  million  dollars  a  year  for 
this  purpose,  for  a  period  of  ten  years  would  add  to  the 
national  wealth,  in  a  decade  and  a  half,  $100,000,000, 
because  since  cheap  transportation  is  the  essential  factor 
in  the  development  of  pioneer  countries,  the  resultant 
effect  would  be  a  tremendous  increase  in  the  mineral  out- 
put of  the  Territory,  besides  opening  to  agricultural  pur- 


102  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

suits  vast  areas  of  land   now  practically   inaccessible,   or 
which  can  only  be  reached  at  great  cost. 


Territorial  Legislature. — Another  factor  that  has  given 
the  people  of  Alaska  renewed  hope  for  the  future  is  the 
creation  of  a  local  legislature,  by  which  a  fair  measure  of 
home  rule  has  been  given  to  the  Territory.  The  first  ses- 
sion of  this  body  convened  on  March  3,  1912,  and  during 
the  sixty  days'  session  considerable  progressive  legislation 
was  enacted  that  promises  beneficial  results  for  the  people 
as  a  whole.  The  work  of  the  legislature  was  such  as  to 
amply  demonstrate  that  the  people  of  Alaska  are  fully 
capable  of  governing  themselves. 


Future  of  Alaska. — The  statement  that  Alaska  is  to 
be  the  future  home  of  millions  of  Americans  and  that  it 
will  comprise  several  new  states  is  not  extravagant.  The 
Territory  is  just  beginning  to  be  known  in  part  and  its 
potential  possibilities  appreciated  in  part.  Given  reason- 
able opportunities  Alaska  will  be  a  "poor  man's  land," — 
one  where  is  not  found  the  "millionaire's  home  on  the 
hill  and  a  thousand  hovels  in  the  valley" — one  where  the 
poor  man  is  not  a  pauper  or  has  the  fear  of  pauperism  in 
his  heart.  While  there  has  been  much  buncombe,  more  or 
less  pure,  spoken  and  written  about  Alaska,  there  has 
also  been  much  truth  told  and  printed  about  it.  The 
Territory  is  not  a  Utopia,  though  it  has  been  so  pictured. 
Neither  is  it  an  "ice  box,"  fitted  only  as  a  habitat  for 
polar  bear,  Eskimos,  and  fur  seals  which  long  was  a 
popular  delusion  and  which  still  is  cherished  even  in 
many  parts  of  the  United  States.  It  does  not  measure  up 
to  the  Utopia  ideal  under  existing  conditions.  It  has, 
however,  all  the  materials  for  the  making  of  an  ideal 
State  or  a  number  of  States.  It  has  in  the  raw  all  the 
resources,  natural  advantages,  and  opportunities  that  were 
offered  to  the  pioneers  in  other  Territories  of  this  Republic, 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  103 

and  all  that  the  pioneers  of  Alaska  ask  is  to  be  permitted 
to  make  legitimate  use  of  them.  Alaska  may  be  preserved 
and  developed  as  the  truly  representative  section  of 
America.  It  must  not  be  permitted  to  fall  into  despoiling 
hands,  but  this  condition  need  not  be  seriously  feared  at 
this  time.  Alaska  today  stands  as  the  land  where  hands 
and  tools  may  come  together  if  only  thrift  impel  the  hands ; 
the  land  where  individualism  may  grow  from  human  roots ; 
the  land  of  equal  opportunities. 


Farming. — Agricultural  development  has  reached  a 
stage  that  insures  it  a  permanent  place  in  the  industries 
of  the  Territory.  This  statement  applies  generally  to  the 
interior  country  and  particularly  to  the  Tanana  and 
Yukon  valleys.  The  work  being  done  at  the  Government 
experimental  stations  at  Sitka,  Rampart,  and  Fairbanks, 
all  of  which  were  inspected  the  past  summer,  is  of  sur- 
passing interest  and  is  such  as  to  demonstrate  thoroughly 
the  wisdom  of  establishing  these  stations.  Much  work 
has  been  done  in  reclaiming  and  cultivating  the  lands,  and 
farm  development  has  been  greatly  aided  and  stimulated 
through  the  agency  of  these  experimental  stations;  not- 
withstanding this  there  apparently  has  been  but  a  small 
increase  in  the  number  of  farmers  in  Alaska  during  the 
past  year.  This  is  due  to  economic  conditions,  which  are 
such  that  there  is  no  inducement  to  practical  farmers  in 
the  States  and  elsewhere  to  settle  in  Alaska.  The  country 
cannot  be  developed  agriculturally  until  railroads  are 
built  and  the  costs  of  transportation  very  materially 
reduced.  It  will  cost  a  farmer,  from  almost  any  part  of 
the  United  States,  as  much  to  transport  his  family  and 
his  live  stock,  his  equipments  and  implements,  etc.,  to 
Alaska  as  it  would  to  buy  a  small  farm  in  the  less  thickly 
settled  regions  of  the  Northern  and  Northwestern  States. 
Add  to  this  the  cost  of  the  survey  of  his  homestead,  if 
located  outside  the  few  districts  Avhere  Government  sur- 
veys have  been  made,  the  expense   of  erecting  the  neces- 


104  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

sary  buildings  and  of  clearing  the  land,  gauged  by  the 
prevailing  wages  for  day  labor  in  Alaska,  and  it  becomes 
a  venture  which  no  poor  man  can  undertake. 


Lack  of  Available  Markets. — And  if  he  should  meet  all 
these  adverse  conditions  successfully,  he  still  finds  that 
when  his  crops  are  ready  to  market  lack  of  transportation 
facilities  makes  it  impossible  to  sell  them,  except  when  he 
is  fortunate  enough  to  have  a  local  and  near-by  market, 
as  is  the  case  at  Fairbanks.  These  are  conditions  which 
prevent  the  agricultural  development  of  Alaska,  and  which 
will  continue  to  prevent  it  until  railroads  are  built  and 
freight  and  passenger  rates  are  so  reduced  as  to  be  some- 
what near  to  those  prevailing  in  the  States.  The  Govern- 
ment, it  is  submitted,  alone  can  remedy  these  conditions. 
In  the  meantime,  American  farmers  continue  to  flock  to 
Canada,  where  the  handicaps  existing  in  Alaska  either  do 
not  exist  at  all  or  are  greatly  minimized. 


It  is  again  emphasized  here  that  Alaska  has  great 
agricultural  possibilities,  but  railroads,  highroads  and 
other  means  of  improved  transportation  must  be  had  be- 
fore these  possibilities  can  be  developed,  and  then  it  will 
be  desirable  to  encourage  settlement  of  the  country  by 
people  from  Northern  Europe  and  the  Northwestern 
States,  who  are  accustomed  to  a  cold  climate  and  familiar 
with  the  methods  of  agriculture  which  must  be  followed 
in  high  latitudes. 

In  this  connection  it  is  suggested  that  it  might  be 
well  to  modify  the  immigration  laws,  as  far  as  Alaska  is 
concerned,  so  that  it  will  be  possible  for  colonies  of  Scan- 
dinavians to  settle  in  Alaska  as  agriculturists  without 
great  expense  to  themselves.  If  established  precedents  of 
our  Government  could  be  overcome  to  the  extent  of  paying 
the  transportation  of  desirable  immigrants,  who  should  be 
selected  by  Government  agents,  from  their  homes  to  Alaska 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  105 

and  by  helping  them  along  by  small  loans  until  they 
became  established,  Alaska  would  be  speedily  settled  with 
a  people  who  would  clear  the  wilderness  and  turn  it  into 
productive  farms.  It  may  also  be  pointed  out  here  that 
the  Canadian  Government  has  for  years  been  offering 
special  inducements  to  farmers  in  the  United  States  and 
Northern  Europe  to  move  to  Canada  and  settle  the  agri- 
cultural land  of  the  Dominion,  agents  of  that  Government 
having  been  paid  bonuses  for  every  person  they  induced 
to  settle  in  that  country.  The  result  of  this  policy  has 
been  that  hundreds  of  thousands  of  good  American  farmers 
have  moved  to  Canada  and  taken  with  them  millions 
of  capital,  and  whatever  Canada  has  gained  has  been 
America's  loss,  and  therefore  it  is  suggested  that  our 
laws  and  precedents  should  not  be  so  inflexible  that  they 
cannot  be  made  to  yield  to  the  evident  interests  of  this 
great  country. 


In  this  place  we  turn  aside  to  include  the  following  im- 
portant statement  of  the  agricultural  capabilities  of  Alaska 
made  by  Prof.  C.  C.  Georgeson,  special  agent  in  charge 
of  Alaska  Experimental  Stations,  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  We  do  this  at  the  risk  of  some  very  slight 
repetitions  of  what  already  has  been  said  on  this  subject: 

"Alaska  has  two  climatic  belts  known,  respectively, 
as  the  coast  region  and  the  interior.  The  coast  region  is 
rainy,  has  mild  winters  and  cool  summers.  The  interior 
region  is  for  the  most  part  dry,  has  very  severe  winters 
and  short  but  warm  summers.  These  distinctions  should 
be  borne  in  mind  because  they  have  an  important  bearing 
on  the  success  of  the  farmer. 

"Considering  first  the  coast  region,  Southeastern 
Alaska  is  for  the  most  part  covered  with  timber.  The 
country  is  rugged;  there  are  but  few  valleys  suited  to 
agriculture.  The  spruce  timber  in  most  cases  reaches 
clear  to  the  edge  of  the  sea.    It  is  ordinarily  too  expensive 


106  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

to  clear  this  land  for  farming  purposes.  In  the  Prince 
^Villiam  Sound  region  and  westward  to  Bering  Sea,  the 
forest  gradually  disappears  until  west  of  Kodiak  Island 
there  is  practically  no  forest  at  all.  This  region  is  covered 
with  grass  and  low  bushes  and  is  suited  for  grazing  pur- 
poses. Cattle  and  sheep  can,  if  they  are  hardy,  live  out 
the  entire  year,  and  cattle  can  obtain  food  as  long  as  the 
ground  is  not  covered  with  snow.  Vegetables  of  hardy 
kinds  can  be  grown  successfully  in  the  coast  region.  Cab- 
bage, cauliflower,  lettuce,  radishes,  turnips,  etc.,  are  no 
better,  sweeter,  or  crisper  anywhere  than  those  grown  in 
this  region.  On  the  other  hand,  grain  growing  can  not 
be  said  to  be  a  success.  Barley  and  oats  can  be  matured, 
but  usually  the  fall  rains  are  so  heavy  and  so  continuous 
that  it  is  difficult  to  save  the  grain  after  it  has  ripened. 
Southeastern  Alaska  is  practically  only  adapted  to  gar- 
dening, and  Southwestern  Alaska  is  preeminently  adapted 
to  stock  raising  and  gardening. 

•'The  interior  region  differs  totally  from  the  coast  belt 
not  only  in  climate  but  in  products  and  agricultural 
capacity.  While  the  summers  are  short,  about  ninety  to 
one  hundred  days  free  from  killing  frost,  the  weather  is 
warm  enough  to  mature  all  the  hardy  grains.  The  Gov- 
ernment has  maintained  an  experiment  station  at  Rampart, 
Alaska,  in  latitude  65  degrees  30  minutes,  since  1900,  and 
in  that  period  the  experimenters  have  never  failed  to 
mature  all  early  varieties  of  barley  and  oats.  Spring 
wheat  and  spring  rye,  on  the  other  hand,  mature  but 
seldom;  they  require  a  rather  longer  season  than  barley 
and  oats.  Winter  rye  and  winter  wheat  can  be  matured 
successfully,  not  only  at  this  station  but  throughout  the 
interior,  whenever  the  snowfall  is  three  feet  deep,  so  that 
the  crop  is  protected  during  the  coldest  portion  of  the 
weather.  Winter  grains  should  be  sowed  about  the  first 
of  August,  and  they  will  be  ready  to  harvest  about  the 
middle  of  August  of  the  following  year.  Hardy  vegetables 
of  all  kinds  can  be  grown   in  the  interior  with  equal   or 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  107 

possibly  even  greater  success  than  in  the  coast  region. 
This  is  proven  by  the  many  successful  market  gardeners 
scattered  throughout  the  country  wherever  the  mining 
camps  afford  a  market. 

*'The  mainland,  including  the  region  of  the  Kuskok- 
wim  and  Nushagak  rivers,  is  intermediate  between  the 
coast  region  and  the  interior,  as  here  noted.  The  summers 
are  cool  like  the  coast  belt  and  the  winters  not  so  severe 
as  in  the  interior.  Oats  and  barley  can  be  matured  in  the 
Kuskokwim  and  Nushagak  river  valleys,  but  conditions  are 
not  quite  as  favorable  as,  for  instance,  in  the  Tanana  Valley, 
and  the  feeding  season  is  longer  than  in  the  coast  region. 

''Going  still  farther  north  to  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon 
River  and  Seward  Peninsula,  agriculture  can  not  be  made 
a  success  except  vegetable  gardening  on  a  comparatively 
small  scale;  grain  can  not  be  matured  in  that  region. 
Considering  the  agricultural  possibilities  as  a  whole,  it 
may  be  stated  that  wheat  growing  is  precarious  and  corn 
growing  impossible;  tender  vegetables,  such  as  tomatoes, 
cucumbers,  melons,  peppers,  etc.,  can  not  be  grown  out  of 
doors  in  Alaska. 


Turning  to  a  further  consideration  of  Governor 
Strong's  Report  to  President  Wilson,  we  meet  with  other 
interesting  subjects: 

Aids  to  Navigation. — Speaking  of  the  need  of  more 
lights  and  other  aids  to  navigation.  Governor  Strong  says 
that  this  demand  was  more  than  emphasized  during  the 
summer  of  1913,  inasmuch  as  "three  passenger  and  freight 
steamers  having  been  totally  wrecked,  while  a  number  sus- 
tained minor  accidents,  due  to  the  insufficiency  of  lights 
and  other  aids  to  navigation  and  the  lack  of  surveys  of 
some  of  the  inland  channels  and  bays  of  Southeastern 
Alaska.  In  one  instance  a  loss  of  thirty-one  lives  occurred, 
when  on  August  17  the  steamship  State  of  California 
struck    an    uncharted    rock    in    Gambier    Cay,    Frederick 


108  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Sound.  The  vessel  sank  in  three  minutes.  Fortunately, 
the  wreck  of  the  other  two  steamers  entailed  no  loss  of  life. 

''An  immediate  survey  of  all  uncharted  waters  of  the 
Alaska  Coast  should  be  made,  and  there  should  be  re- 
surveys  in  a  number  of  places.  The  general  importance 
of  such  aids  in  these  northern  waters  can  not  be  ques- 
tioned. The  commerce  of  the  Territory  is  large  and  is 
steadily  increasing,  especially  in  the  southeastern  section, 
and  installation  of  lights  and  buoys  is  to  be  regarded  as 
a  matter  of  great  economic  as  well  as  of  humane  im- 
portance. Accidents  to  shipping  are  of  annual  occurrence, 
notwithstanding  the  steady  increase  in  the  number  of 
lights  and  buoys  in  the  past  several  years.  In  the  fiscal 
year  ended  June  30,  1913,  there  were  established  in  these 
waters  fifteen  new  lights;  five  lights  were  converted  from 
oil  to  acetylene-gas  burners;  two  beacons  were  established; 
nine  buoys  provided  in  new  locations;  and  four  float  lights 
were  installed  in  Wrangell  Straits." 

It  is  noted  in  this  connection  that  the  national  gov- 
ernment is  now  taking  steps  to  meet  all  requirements  in 
connection  with  navigation  and  commerce  in  Alaskan 
waters.  This  naturally  is  a  part  of  the  government's  great 
program  for  the  commercial  and  industrial  development 
of  Alaska,  The  same  is  true  relative  to  the  cable  service, 
which  in  the  recent  past  has  suffered  serious  interruptions. 


Lalor  Conditions. — Governor  Strong  has  this  to  say 
concerning  labor  conditions  in  Alaska:  "Alaska  during 
the  fiscal  year  has  afforded  a  fair  field  for  labor.  This  is 
true  especially  in  the  southeastern  section,  where  there  has 
been  an  increase  in  the  number  of  laborers  employed  in  the 
mining  and  fishing  industries.  In  the  Fairbanks  and 
Xome  regions  and  in  the  mining  districts  of  the  Yukon, 
the  past  season  was  unparalled  for  drought,  thus  creating  a 
smaller  demand  for  mining  and  other  labor.  There  have 
been  no  strikes  during  the  past  year  among  either  mine  or 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  109 

fishery  employees,  and  the  prices  of  labor  in  the  several- 
parts  of  the  Territory  have  remained  practically  stat- 
ionary." 


The  Coal  Lands. — At  the  risk  of  slight  repetition  it  is 
considered  important  to  include  Governor  Strong's  ob- 
servations on  this  subject:  "With  a  constantly  increasing 
demand  for  coal,  not  only  for  domestic  use,  but  for  in- 
dustrial purposes  as  well,  the  vast  coal-bearing  areas 
of  Alaska  are  still  (1913)  withheld  from  development. 
It  is  not  deemed  necessary  here  to  enter  upon  a  discussion 
of  the  causes  that  have  produced  this  condition.  These 
have  been  told  and  retold  many  times  during  the  past 
years.  To  say  that  the  industrial  development  of  Alaska, 
on  a  scale  commensurate  with  the  extent  and  variety 
of  its  resources,  depends  upon  the  development  of  the 
coal  fields,  is  but  stating  a  fact  that  is  exceedingly  trite. 
With  practically  unlimited  quantities  of  the  best  quality 
of  bituminous,  semi-bituminous,  and  anthracite  coals 
within  the  Territory,  for  many  years  its  people  have 
been  compelled  to  import  nearly  all  the  coal  needed  for 
domestic  fuel  and  for  industrial  purposes,  from  foreign 
countries,  largely  from  British  Columbia,  and  not  in- 
frequently from  Japan  and  Australia.  During  the  past 
summer  the  not  altogether  edifying  spectacle  of  a  for- 
eign ship  discharging  foreign  coal  for  the  use  of  the 
United  States  Government  was  witnessed  at  Unalaska. 
However,  this  is  not  an  unfamiliar  sight  in  Alaska.  A 
strike  of  coal  miners  in  British  Columbia,  which  has 
been  in  existence  for  nearly  two  years  past,  has  caused 
the  coal-supply  situation  to  become  acute  in  some  sec- 
tions of  Alaska,  which  are  dependent  upon  that  country 
for  coal. 

"From  an  economic  and  industrial  standpoint  it  may 
also  be  pointed  out  that  if  the  coal  areas  of  Alaska  were 
developed  a  tremendous  impetus  would  be  given  to  quartz 


110  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

mining  in  nearly  every  section  of  Alaska.  It  is  a  well- 
known  fact  that  in  Alaska  are  immense  deposits  of 
metalliferous  ores  of  various  kinds  which  can  only  be 
worked  profitably  if  coal  and  coke  are  obtainable  at  rea- 
sonable prices.  The  cost  of  both  these  products  is  now  so 
great  that  development  of  many  of  these  ore  bodies  is  out 
of  the  question.  Given  a  cheap  fuel  supply,  smelters 
would  be  built  and  the  ore  treated  at  home  with  coal  mined 
and  coke  manufactured  within  Alaska;  mining  would  be 
stimulated  vastly  and  trade  and  commerce  would  be 
greatly  extended;  prosperous  industrial  communities 
would  be  created  and  the  population  of  the  Territory 
would  increase  rapidly. 

"The  principal  coal  measures  of  the  Territory  are 
found  in  the  third  judicial  division — in  the  Bering  River 
and  Matanuska  regions — and  there  are  also  extensive  de- 
posits in  the  fourth  judicial  division,  on  the  Nenana  River, 
and  in  the  second  judicial  division,  at  Cape  Lisburne  and 
Chicago  Creek.  In  the  Fairbanks  district,  on  the  Tanana 
River,  quartz  mines  are  just  beginning  to  be  developed, 
and  unless  cheaper  fuel  can  be  readily  obtained  there  the 
industry  will  be  seriously  handicapped  or  perhaps  aban- 
doned. The  Nenana  coal  fields  are  distant  from  the 
quartz-producing  section  about  50  miles.  At  this  time  an 
inferior  quality  of  wood,  which  is  now  used  exclusively 
for  fuel,  costs,  delivered  at  the  mines,  |15  per  cord,  and 
the  ore  must  carry  high  values  to  stand  the  cost  of  fuel. 
A  similar  condition  exists  in  the  Seward  peninsula  region, 
northwestern  Alaska,  where  a  large  number  of  power 
dredges  are  employed  in  alluvial  mining.  Some  of  these 
are  compelled  to  resort  to  the  use  of  gasoline  and  fuel 
oil  from  the  California  oil  fields.  This  statement  applies 
to  some  parts  of  southwestern  Alaska,  where  fuel  oil  is 
also  used.  If  Alaska  coal  could  be  obtained,  these  opera- 
tors would  be  enabled  to  save  many  thousands  of  dollars 
yearly,  the  scope  of  their  operations  would  be  largely  ex- 
tended, employment  would  be  given   to  many   more   men. 


THE  ALASKA  OF   TODAY  111 

and  generally  industrial  and  business  conditions  would  be 
greatly   improved. 

*'The  people  of  Alaska  are  firm  in  the  belief  that  the 
present  administration  will  in  the  immediate  future  adopt 
a  liberal  policy  that  will  have  for  its  object  the  open- 
ing of  the  coal  fields,  or  a  part  of  them,  on  lines  that 
will  insure  a  permanent  supply  of  coal  at  reasonable 
prices,  without  the  danger  of  a  monopoly  either  in  produc- 
ing or  selling. 

''In  Alaska,  patents  have  been  granted  up  to  1914,  to 
only  two  coal-land  claimants.  These  patents  were  issued 
for  claims  carrying  an  inferior  quality  of  coal.  Patents 
for  coal  lands  have  been  applied  for  in  the  Bering  River 
and  Matanuska  sections,  but  none  have  been  granted, 
while  many  applications  have  been  canceled.  Some  of  these 
applications  were  no  doubt  fraudulent,  but  it  seems  in- 
conceivable that  all  were  tainted  with  fraud,  when  it  is 
a  well  known  fact  that  a  number  of  those  who  applied 
for  patents  were  reputable  and  honorable  men.  It  would, 
therefore,  seem  that  not  only  the  ends  of  justice  would 
be  subserved,  but  the  coal  situation  clarified,  were  these 
coal  claimants,  who  located  land  strictly  within  the  law 
as  it  existed  at  that  time,  to  receive  patents  therefor. 
In  this  connection  it  is  well  to  state  that  95  per  cent  of 
the  residents  of  Alaska  have  no  interest,  directly  or  re- 
motely, in  the  coal  question,  only  in  so  far  as  its  solution 
would  enable  them  to  obtain  a  cheaper  fuel,  which  has 
been  denied  them  pending  the  settlement  of  the  alleged 
rights  of  these  coal-land  claimants.  The  people  suffer, 
while  the  years  pass,  awaiting  the  time  when  they  shall 
be  permitted  to  mine  and  use  their  own  coal. 

''With  the  coal  mines  of  Alaska  developed  and  pro- 
ducing, the  people  of  southeastern  and  southwestern 
Alaska  would  be  enabled  to  buy  their  coal  for  not  more 
than  |8  per  ton,  and  the  people  of  northwestern  Alaska 
and  the  interior,  at  prices  not  to  exceed  |10   ])er  ton   or 


112  ALASKA:  ITS  MEA:N1NG  TO   THE  WORLD 

less,  allowing  fair  profits  for  the  cost  of  mining  and 
transportation. 

"The  importation  of  coal  into  Alaska  from  the 
States  and  from  foreign  countries  during  the  last  fiscal 
year  amounted  to  102,169  tons,  valued  at  |492,301.  Of 
this,  60,600  tons,  valued  at  |279,788,  was  foreign  coal, 
and  41,569,  domestic,  valued  at  |212,523.  The  coal  im- 
portations, domestic  and  foreign,  during  the  fiscal  year 
1912  were  71,452  tons,  valued  at  |365,551.  The  market 
prices  at  which  coal  has  been  sold  in  Alaska  during  the 
past  14  years  range  from  $150  a  short  ton  in  Nome  in 
1899,  to  $10  in  Juneau,  and  |13  in  Skagway  in  1913.  In 
Nome  the  established  price  is  about  $20  per  ton;  at 
Cordova,  $17.50;  Unalaska,  $15;  Wrangell,  $14;  and 
Ketchikan,  $11.50." 

In  the  face  of  these  conditions,  it  is  gratifying  to 
note,  as  is  elsewhere  in  this  volume  more  fully  explained, 
that  the  National  Government  has  adopted  measures  to 
open  the  coal  fields  of  Alaska  on  a  plan  which  complete- 
ly will  relieve  this  unfortunate  situation  at  the  earliest 
possible  date. 


Public  Schools. — ''The  number  of  schools  for  white 
children  outside  of  incorporated  towns  was  increased 
by  6  during  the  fiscal  year,  and  there  was  a  decrease  of 
1  at  Tanana,  which  town  was  incorporated  in  December, 
1913.  There  are  now  26  schools,  employing  37  teachers, 
with  a  total  enrollment  of  943  pupils.  The  present  school 
law  provides  that  there  shall  be  at  least  20  white  children 
of  school  age  in  a  community  outside  of  incorporated 
towns  before  a  school  can  be  established,  and  I  earnestly 
recommend  that  the  number  be  reduced  to  15,  as  in  dis- 
tricts where  there  are  fewer  than  the  prescribed  num- 
ber, the  children  are  deprived  of  the  great  American  herit- 
age of  education,  and  a  gross  injustice  is  done  them.  The 
future  welfare  of  the  Territorv  demands  that  its  children 


HON.  J.  F.  A.  STRONG— GOVERNOR  OF  ALASKA 

Photo    courtesy    E.    L.    Hampton. 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  113 

shall  receive  the  educational  advantages  such  as  can  only 
be  provided  by  good  schools.  The  allotment  of  a  maxi- 
mum sum  of  $1,000  for  the  construction  and  equipment  of 
a  schoolhouse  is  altogether  inadequate,  and  it  should  be 
increased  to  |2,500,  so  that  good  buildings  and  not  shacks 
can  be  provided. 

"A  law  was  passed  by  the  Alaska  Legislature  at  its 
recent  session  which  provides  for  the  compulsory  educa- 
tion of  white  children  and  those  of  mixed  blood,  living 
civilized  lives,  in  the  Territory  between  the  ages  of  8  and 
16  years,  residing  within  2  miles  of  any  school,  outside  of 
incorporated  towns,  where  the  school  to  which  such  child 
is  entitled  to  admission  is  maintained.  Similar  provision 
is  made  in  the  law  for  the  compulsory  education  of  native 
children  and  children  of  mixed  blood,  not  leading  a  civil- 
ized life,  between  the  ages  of  8  and  16  years,  where  such 
children  reside  within  1  mile  of  a  United  States  public 
school. 

"The  Territorial  legislature  has  memoralized  Con- 
gress to  enact  legislation  for  the  creation  of  a  board  of 
education  and  a  board  of  examiners,  with  not  less  than 
two  school  superintendents  for  white  children  in  the  Ter- 
ritory, together  with  an  appropriation  to  defray  expenses 
of  the  proposed  boards.  Amendments  to  the  Alaska  school 
laws  embodying  the  proposed  changes  in  the  present  law 
were  transmitted  to  the  Congress  with  the  memorial.  I 
recommend  that  these  amendments  be  enacted  into  law, 
so  that  the  efficiency  of  the  schools  may  be  increased,  the 
standard  raised,  and  a  uniform  course  of  study  secured." 


Water  Powers. — Among  the  great  natural  resources 
of  Alaska,  of  which  little  has  been  heard,  are  the  water 
powers  of  the  southeastern  and  southwestern  sections  of 
the  Territory  which  are  undeveloped,  while  millions  of 
dollars  are  being  expended  for  hydroelectric  purposes  in 
other    countries    for    the    manufacture    of    electrochemical 


ig.   8. 


114  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

products.  The  utilization  of  the  water  powers  of  Alaska 
for  manufacturing  purposes  should  meet  with  the  approval 
of  all  conservationists,  because  it  would  be  the  "applica- 
tion of  common  sense  to  common  problems  for  the  com- 
mon good."  The  many  water  powers  found  in  southern 
Alaska  are  such  as  to  present  those  essentials  which  must 
be  reckoned  with  when  hydroelectric  plants  are  the  ob- 
jects to  be  attained.  These  essentials  embrace:  A  large 
amount  of  power  the  year  around;  accessibility  to  the 
market  and  location  for  transportation  of  products; 
proximity  of  raw  products  to  be  used. 

One  of  these  water  powers  is  now  being  developed  at 
Speel  River,  about  35  miles  southeast  of  Juneau,  the  pur- 
pose being  the  establishment  of  a  large  electrochemical 
and  industrial  plant,  whose  scope  will  be  the  manufacture 
of  carbides  from  lime  and  coke,  sulphuric  acid  from  pyrites, 
pig  iron  from  clinker  iron,  pulp  from  wood  and  sulphur, 
nitrates  from  the  air,  cyanides  and  fertilizers,  explosives, 
treatment  of  zinc  and  lead  ore,  manufacture  of  potash, 
silica,  and  aluminum  from  feldspar,  zinc  and  lead  salts, 
potassium  and  fertilizer  from  kelp,  etc. 

That  there  is  a  field  for  a  large  electrochemical 
industry  is  shown  from  a  consideration  of  the  raw  ma- 
terials to  be  had  and  the  demand  for  them  when  put  into 
marketable  shape.  With  regard  to  the  supply  of  raw 
materials,  there  are  practically  unlimited  quantities  near 
at  hand,  including  timber,  lime,  sulphur,  and  many 
other  materials  used  in  the  manufacture  of  electro- 
chemical products.  Suitable  fuel  will  be  obtained  from 
the  Alaska  coal  mines  when  they  are  opened,  or  from 
British  Columbia.  Such  an  industry  will  stimulate  pros- 
pecting all  along  the  coast  of  southern  Alaska,  and  it 
will  supply  a  market  for  the  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead, 
and  zinc  ores  and  concentrates.  It  is  doubtful  if  the 
electrochemical  plants  of  Norway  or  Niagara  will  ever 
be  a  strong  competitor  in  Pacific  coast  markets  to  a 
plant    located    on    deep   water    in    a    sheltered    harbor    of 


THE  ALASKA  OF  TODAY  115 

southeastern  Alaska,  1,000  miles  north  of  Puget  Sound, 
whose  location  will  permit  shipments  of  products  to  be 
made  from  the  plant  by  barges  to  Puget  Sound  and 
San  Francisco,  or  by  steamers  direct  to  any  foreign  port. 


Tlie  Legislature. — An  election  was  held  on  November 
5,  1912,  for  members  of  the  territorial  legislative  as- 
sembly, the  establishment  of  which  was  provided  for 
in  the  act  passed  by  Congress  and  approved  August  24, 
1^12.  The  legislature  consists  of  24  members,  8  in  the 
Senate  and  16  in  the  House.  Two  senators  and  four 
representatives  were  elected  from  each  of  the  four 
judicial  divisions.  The  legislative  assembly  held  its 
first  session  beginning  March  3,  1913,  and  lasting  60 
days.  The  sessions  will  be  held  biennially  hereafter. 
Considerable  legislation  of  a  constructive  character  was 
enacted.  The  first  law  passed  extended  the  elective 
franchise  to  such  women  in  the  Territory  as  have  the 
qualifications  of  citizenship  required  of  male  citizens. 
The  work  of  the  legislature  as  a  whole  was  such  as  to 
amply  demonstrate  the  fact  that,  in  the  wise  exercise  of 
such  powers  as  have  been  granted,  the  legislature  can 
perform  many  useful  functions  which  will  contribute 
to  the  improvement  of  local  aff'airs.  Eighty-four  laws 
were  passed,  embracing  a  wide  range  of  subjects,  to- 
gether with  71  memorials  and  resolutions  touching  mat- 
ters of  interest  to  the  people  of  the  Territory  upon  which 
the  legislature  is  without  power  to  act. 


Commerce. — The  following  table  is  a  summary  of  the 
total  commerce  of  Alaska  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June   30,    1913: 

Shipments   of  domestic   merchandise   from   the 

United   States  to   Alaska  $20,179,547 

Shipments    of    foreign    merchandise    from    the 

United  States  to  Alaska  647,715 


116  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Shipments     of     domestic     merchandise     from 

Alaska   to  the   United   States 23,006,246 

Shipments  of  foreign  merchandise  from  Alaska 

to  the  United  States 620,431 

Shipments   of   domestic   gold   and   silver   from 

the  United  States  to  Alaska 1,239,045 

Shipments   of   domestic   gold   and    silver   from 

Alaska  to  the  United  States  14,707,027 

Shipments    of    foreign    gold    and    silver    from 

Alaska  to  the  United  States  4,290,246 

Imports   into   Alaska  _ 982,271 

Domestic  exports  from  Alaska  „ 1,452,546 

Foreign  exports  from  Alaska  _  25,445 

Total     _ _ $67,150,519 


Mail  Service. — The  mail  service  of  interior  Alaska, 
as  well  as  at  some  other  portions  of  the  Territory,  con- 
tinues to  be  unsatisfactory.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  Yukon  River  region  during  the  open  season  of  naviga- 
tion. The  service  during  the  winter  is  much  more  de- 
pendable than  that  of  the  open  season.  The  people  re- 
siding in  the  Iliamna  district  of  southwestern  Alaska 
are  practically  deprived  of  all  mail  facilities,  and  it  is 
recommended  that  a  mail  route  be  established  from  the 
most  convenient  point  to  Iliamna,  Speaking  generally, 
a  liberal  policy  in  the  matter  of  mail  service  should  be 
inaugurated  in  a  country  such  as  this,  where,  under  the 
most  favorable  conditions,  there  is  much  isolation.  The 
men  and  women  who  are  factors  in  the  development  of 
this  Territory,  those  who  are  the  sappers  and  miners  in 
the  advance  of  civilization  and  progress,  are  surely  en- 
titled to  the  utmost  consideration  at  the  hands  of  this 
great  Government. 


This  chapter  includes  a  greater  part  of  the  sub- 
stance of  Governor  Strong's  able  production  of  the  Alas- 
ka of  today,  which  certainly  is  worthy  a  place  in  these 
permanent  records. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES. 


Alaska  in  the  North  Temperate  Zone — The  Temperature 
Records  of  the  Season  in  Various  Localities — Cli- 
matic Districts — Retarding  and  Advancing  Glaciers 
— Mineral  and  Other  Resources — Summary  of  Alas- 
kan Productions — Agricultural  Lands — The  Water 
Powers.  

ALTHOUGH  in  various  parts  of  this  volume  the  sub- 
jects of  climate  and  resources  are  somewhat  fre- 
quently^ and,  in  a  measure,  incidentally  referred  to, 
it  is  considered  expedient,  especially  as  to  the  climate  of 
Alaska,  that  the  most  important  interests  touching  the 
habitability  and  other  natural  advantages  of  the  country, 
should  be  assembled  in  a  continuous  connection  for  the 
general  reference  accommodation  of  readers.  The  com- 
piler of  this  work  has  determined  that  in  this  particular 
effort,  as  in  all  other  features,  there  shall  be  left  in  the 
minds  of  readers  no  doubt  whatever  of  the  reliability  of 
the  data  supplied.  To  this  end  he  here  presents  a  con- 
densation of  the  Report  of  the  Railroad  Commission  on 
these  important  subjects: 


Though  Alaska  is  often  loosely  referred  to  as  an  Arctic 
province,  yet  nearly  three-quarters  of  its  area  lies  within 
the  North  Temperate  Zone.  Geographic  position  and  ex- 
tent relative  to  oceanic  bodies,  together  with  relief,  have 
brought  about  physical  conditions  producing  strong  con- 
trasts in  climate  between  different  parts  of  the  Territory. 
Three  general   climatic  provinces,  each  of  which  in   turn 

(117) 


118  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

includes  a  number  of  subordinate  provinces,  are  recognized. 

The  first  is  the  maritime  province  lying  adjacent  to 
the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  has  a  heavy  precipitation  (50  to 
UK)  inches),  comparatively  high  mean  annual  temperature 
(40  degrees  to  48  degrees  Fahrenheit),  cool  summers 
(mean  temperatures  50  degrees  to  55  degrees  Fahrenheit), 
and  mild  winters  (mean  temperatures  20  degrees  to  35 
degrees  Fahrenheit).  It  has  small  variations  of  annual 
temperatures  compared  with  the  interior  provinces,  the 
records  showing  from  — 12  degrees  to  84  degrees.  The 
second  is  the  inland  province  lying  beyond  the  coastal 
mountains,  with  a  continental  climate  characterized  by 
semi-aridity  (precipitation  9  to  15  inches),  comparatively 
warm  summers  (mean  temperatures  50  degrees  to  58  de- 
grees Fahrenheit),  and  cold  winters  (mean  temperatures 
zero  to  — 15  degrees  Fahrenheit).  Its  most  striking  fea- 
ture is  the  extreme  annual  variation  in  temperatures, 
which  are  from  — 70  degrees  to  90  degrees  Fahrenheit. 
The  mean  annual  temperature  varies  from  15  degrees  to 
27  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  third  province  includes  the 
region  tributary  to  the  Arctic  Ocean,  which,  according  to 
a  few  records,  has  a  precipitation  of  only  about  6  to  8 
inches,  an  average  summer  temperature  of  from  40  degrees 
to  45  degrees  Fahrenheit,  a  winter  temperature  of  about 
— 10  degrees  to  — 16  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  an  extreme 
variation,  according  to  a  few  records,  of  — 54  degrees  to 
60  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  climate  of  the  coastal  province  is  comparable  with 
that  of  Scotland  and  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula,  in 
Europe,  but  is  somewhat  warmer.  That  of  the  inland 
region  is  not  unlike  the  climate  of  Alberta,  Saskatchewan, 
and  Manitoba,  in  Canada.  The  northerly  province  bor- 
dering the  Polar  Sea,  is  the  only  one  in  which  Arctic  con- 
ditions prevail. 

Central  Alaska,  or  the  region  here  specially  under 
consideration,  lies  in  part  in  the  Pacific  maritime,  in  part 
in  the  inland   climatic  province.     It   includes   Cook   Inlet 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  119 

and  the  Susitna  Valley  and  the  Copper  River  Basin,  whose 
climate,  however,  resembles  that  of  the  inland  region  lying 
north  of  the  Pacific  mountain  system.  Climatic  records  in 
central  Alaska  are,  at  best,  but  fragmentary,  and  hence  all 
statements  in  regard  to  temperatures  and  precipitation, 
etc.,  must  be  regarded  as  only  approximately  accurate. 

The  precipitation  of  southeastern  Alaska  varies  from 
about  147  inches  at  Ketchikan  to  less  than  30  inches  at 
Skagway.  While  there  is  but  little  snow  near  sea  level, 
there  is  a  very  heavy  fall  in  the  mountains.  At  White  Pass 
the  winter  snow  fall  is  about  25  to  30  feet,  but  is  probably 
less  than  four  feet  on  the  Chilkat  summit.  Records  show 
that  the  mean  annual  number  of  days  on  which  precipita- 
tion occurs  in  southeastern  Alaska  varies  from  85  at  Skag- 
way to  235  at  Ketchikan.  The  mean  temperatures  of  the 
three  summer  months  in  this  province  vary  from  about  50 
degrees  to  about  55  degrees  Fahrenheit ;  of  the  three  win- 
ter months  from  20  degrees  to  30  degrees  Fahrenheit,  while 
the  mean  annual  temperature  is  between  40  degrees  and 
48  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  highest  recorded  summer  tem- 
perature in  southeastern  Alaska  is  92  degrees  Fahrenheit; 
the  lowest  winter  temperature  — 4  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

In  the  coastal  region,  stretching  from  Katalla  to  Sew- 
ard, the  average  temperature  for  the  three  summer  months 
is  about  51  degrees  Fahrenheit ;  of  the  three  winter  months 
from  20  degrees  to  30  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  lowest  tem- 
peratures recorded  in  this  region  are  — 14  degrees  Fahren- 
heit; the  highest  82  degrees  Fahrenheit.  Incomplete  rec- 
ords show  an  average  annual  precipitation  varying  accord- 
ing to  locality  from  54  inches  to  135  inches.  The  precipita- 
tion is  about  127  inches  at  Katalla,  132  inches  at  Cordova, 
135  inches  at  Childs  Glacier,  Copper  River,  74  inches  at 
Valdez,  and  54  inches  at  Seward.  The  records  indicate  an 
average  at  different  localities  of  from  90  to  240  days  in 
which  some  precipitation  occurs.  The  total  snowfall  is 
about  5 — 8  feet  at  Seward,  12  feet  at  Valdez,  about  6  feet 
on  the  Trail  Creek  along  the  Alaska  Northern   Railroad, 


120  ALASKA;  ITS  MEAIfINO  TO  THE  WORLD 

about  30  feet  at  Childs  Glacier  on  the  Copper  River  Rail- 
road, and  about  15  feet  at  Thompson  Pass,  crossed  by  the 
Military  Road  from  Valdez. 

Cook  Inlet  has  quite  a  different  climate  from  that  of 
the  outer  coast  line.  Here  the  precipitation  is  only  25  to 
40  inches,  with  a  snowfall  of  4 — 5  feet.  Some  precipitation 
occurs  on  about  100  days  in  the  year.  The  mean  annual 
temperature  varies  greatly  in  different  parts  of  this  region, 
being  from  33  degrees  to  42  degrees  Fahrenheit,  while  the 
average  temperature  of  the  three  summer  months  is  about 
53  degrees  Fahrenheit;  of  the  three  winter  months  about 
10  degrees  to  25  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  highest  recorded 
summer  temperature  is  87  degrees  Fahrenheit;  the  lowest 
winter  temperature,  — 40  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  climate  of  the  lower  Susitna  and  of  the  Matanuska 
valleys  differs  again,  both  from  that  of  Cook  Inlet  and  of 
the  outer  coast  line.  Here  there  are  a  very  few  records, 
but  the  summers  are  known  to  be  warmer  than  on  Cook 
Inlet  and  the  winters  are  probably  milder.  The  precipita- 
tion is  small,  one  year's  records  at  Chickaloon,  in  the  Mat- 
anuska Valley,  indicate  a  total  of  only  10  inches,  but  this 
was  probably  an  unusually  dry  year.  The  lowest  tempera- 
ture recorded  at  this  locality  during  the  same  period  was 
— 12  degrees  Fahrenheit ;  the  highest  84  degrees  Fahrenheit. 

The  lower  Copper  River  Valley  has  much  the  same  cli- 
mate as  that  of  the  coast,  but  ascending  the  river  above 
Tiekhel  a  gradual  transition  to  inland  conditions  is  no- 
ticed. There  are  no  records  at  Chitina,  but  the  precipita- 
tion is  known  to  be  small,  the  summers  warm,  and  the 
winters  cold.  At  Kennicott,  the  inland  terminal  of  the 
Copper  River  &  Northwestern  Railroad,  the  snowfall  is 
about  four  feet,  and  the  extremes  of  temperature  recorded 
are  — 31  degrees  and  76  degrees  Fahrenheit.  This  station 
is  2,000  feet  above  sea  level  and  close  to  a  glacier.  At 
Copper  Center  the  total  precipitation  is  about  10  inches, 
and  the  snowfall  about  3  feet.  Extremes  of  temperature 
of  — 50   degrees  and   85    degrees    Fahrenheit    have    been 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  121 

recorded.  The  average  temperatures  of  the  three  summer 
months  are  about  55  degrees  Fahrenheit,  and  of  the  three 
winter  months  about  10  degrees  Fahrenheit.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  snowfall  at  Faxons,  near  Isabel  Pass,  is  be- 
tween three  and  four  feet,  and  the  total  precipitation  some- 
what greater  than  at  Copper  Center. 

The  total  annual  precipitation  in  the  upper  Yukon 
Basin  varies  locally  from  10  to  16  inches.  At  Fairbanks 
it  is  about  11.5  inches,  at  Eagle  12  inches,  at  Dawson  13 
inches,  at  Fort  Gibbon,  the  mouth  of  the  Tanana,  about 
14  inches.  The  snowfall  in  this  district  is  from  three  to 
five  feet.  It  is  reported  that  the  snowfall  in  the  upper 
White  Kiver  basin  is  only  two  feet.  Some  precipitation 
occurs  for  about  80  days  in  the  year.  The  mean  tempera- 
ture for  the  three  summer  months  at  Fairbanks  is  about 
56  degrees  Fahrenheit;  the  mean  temperature  for  the  three 
winter  months  about  — 12  degrees  Fahrenheit;  the  mean 
annual  temperature  about  25  degrees  Fahrenheit.  A  mini- 
mum temperature  of  — 70  degrees  Fahrenheit  is  recorded, 
and  a  maximum  of  90  degrees  Fahrenheit.  The  precipita- 
tion on  the  lower  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  is  about  17  to  20 
inches.  The  average  summer  temperatures  are  a  little  lower 
than  those  at  Fairbanks,  and  the  winter  temperatures  are 
about  the  same. 

The  subject  of  prevailing  winds  along  the  coast,  though 
important,  can  only  be  touched  upon  in  this  writing.  In 
general  it  may  be  said  that  the  severest  storms  along  the 
central  part  of  the  Pacific  seaboard  of  Alaska  are  from 
the  south  and  southeast.  These  are  more  frequent  from 
October  to  March  than  during  the  balance  of  the  year.  One 
of  the  most  important  climatic  features  of  the  coast  of 
Alaska  to  shipping  are  the  severe  winds  which  blow  in 
and  out  of  the  valleys,  that  traverse  the  coast  ranges,  and 
their  connecting  fiords.  These  blow  toward  the  land  in 
summer  and  toward  the  sea  in  winter.  The  severest  are 
the  outward  winds,  which  are  most  common  during  Janu- 
ary, February,  and  March,  when   velocities  of  60  and  70 


122  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

miles  an  hour  are  said  to  be  not  infrequent.  Where  a 
harbor  or  roadstead  lies  in  the  tracks  of  such  winds  they 
will  seriously  interfere  with  shipping.  Examples  of  these 
winds  are  found  at  Lynn  Canal,  Bering  River,  Copper 
River,  Lowe  River,  and  Valdez  Glacier,  Resurrection  River 
near  Seward,  and  at  Iliamna  Bay.  The  fogs  in  summer 
and  the  snowstorms  in  winter  also  at  times  delay  vessels 
navigating  the  Alaska  coast. 

The  experience  of  those  long  resident  in  Alaska  has 
shown  the  climate  to  be  very  healthful.  No  extremes  of 
cold  or  heat  occur  along  the  Pacific  seaboard.  The  exces- 
sive rains  characteristic  of  many  parts  of  this  district  are, 
to  be  sure,  disagreeable,  but  experience  demonstrates  the 
fact  that  they  have  no  adverse  effect  on  health.  It  must 
be  remembered,  too,  that  the  excessive  precipitation  is  by 
no  means  universal  in  this  maritime  belt.  It  has  been 
shown  that  at  Skagw^ay,  for  example,  the  total  precipi- 
tation is  less  than  30  inches,  and  at  Seward  about  54 
inches.  Probably  the  most  trying  feature  of  the  coastal 
climate  is  the  strong  winds  which  blow  in  the  winter  from 
the  valleys  traversing  the  coastal  barrier. 

The  Cook  Inlet  and  Susitna  regions  have  a  climate 
similar  to  that  of  the  interior,  and  warmer  summers  than 
those  on  the  coast,  with  less  precipitation.  The  same  holds 
true  of  the  Copper  River  Basin.  Of  the  Yukon  it  may  be 
said  that  the  summers  are  cool  and  that  bright  clear 
weather  prevails  most  of  the  time.  The  aridity  of  the  cli- 
mate makes  the  extreme  temperatures  of  winter  easy  to 
resist.  All  who  have  lived  in  this  inland  region  are  agreed 
that  the  winter  climate  is  far  more  healthful  than  in  many 
parts  of  the  States  where  the  temperature  is  higher,  but 
where  there  is  an  excess  of  humidity.  Residents  of  the  in- 
terior have  no  fear  of  the  extreme  cold  that  often  prevails 
during  the  winter  months.  The  winter  journey  between 
Fairbanks  and  Valdez  is  made  by  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren and  ofifers  no  serious  hardships  except  when  storms 
are  encountered. 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  123 

The  heavy  snowfall  on  the  seaward  slopes  of  the  coastal 
mountains  is  the  only  serious  climatic  obstacle  to  the  opera- 
tion of  railways  in  Alaska.  There  is,  however,  also  a 
marked  fluctuation  in  the  run-ofif,  which  affects  cost  of 
construction  and  maintenance.  With  the  opening  of  spring 
the  winter  snows  melt  rapidly,  with  a  corresponding  rise 
in  the  watercourses.  The  danger  to  bridges  and  trestles  is 
increased  by  the  presence  of  ice,  which  may  not  only  act 
directly  against  structures,  but  may  also  cause  floods  by 
forming  temporary  dams  which  may  break  and  precipitate 
a  sudden  flood  with  ice  cakes  down  the  valley  below. 

The  glaciers  of  the  Pacific  mountain  system  also  affect 
railway  location  and  cost  of  construction  and  operation. 
Some  of  the  mountain  passes  otherwise  available  for  rail- 
ways are  covered  with  glacial  ice  and  hence  cannot  be  util- 
ized. Glacial  streams  are  heavily  charged  with  sediments 
and  subject  to  great  fluctuations,  and  their  channels  are 
constantly  shifting.  Moreover,  lakes  often  form  within 
the  glaciers,  or  in  the  tributary  valleys  behind  the  face  of 
the  glacier,  and  the  breaking  of  the  ice  dams  holding  them 
precipitates  vast  volumes  of  water  into  the  valley  below 
that  may  cause  serious  damage  to  railway  structures. 

Most  of  the  Alaska  glaciers  are  retreating,  but  some 
have  advanced  during  the  last  few  years.  Therefore  rail- 
ways projected  close  to  the  front  of  glaciers  always,  to  a 
certain  extent,  are  in  danger  of  damage  by  the  advance  of 
the  ice.  Moreover,  if  a  railway  be  projected  across  a 
moraine,  it  may  be  found  on  excavation  that  ice  occurs 
underneath  what  appears  to  be  simply  a  mass  of  gravel  and 
glacial  detritus.  If  such  conditions  are  encountered,  the 
ice  will  thaw  and  will  entail  a  continuous  charge  for 
maintenance  of  grade.  In  considering  the  effect  of  glaciers 
on  railway  location,  construction,  and  maintenance,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  they  occur  only  in  the  Pacific 
mountain  system  and  chiefly  on  the  coastal  slope. 

Another  effect  of  climate  on  railway  construction  and 
maintenance  is  the  frozen  condition  of  the  ground  which 


124  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

prevails  in  much  of  the  inland  region.  At  Fairbanks  the 
alluvium  is  in  many  places  frozen  to  bedrock,  ground  frost 
having  been  met  with  to  a  depth  of  over  300  feet.  It  is  to 
be  noted  that  unless  the  cover  of  moss  and  vegetation  is 
stripped,  only  about  18  to  24  inches  of  the  surface  thaws 
during  the  summer.  The  ground  is,  however,  not  every- 
where frozen  in  the  inland  region.  The  beds  of  the  larger 
watercourses  are  usually  unfrozen,  and  this  also  holds  true 
of  the  gravel  benches  along  the  valley  walls  and  other 
deposits  of  alluvium  which  are  drained.  The  talus-covered 
slopes  of  the  valleys  are  generally  frozen,  and  a  cut  made 
into  them  leads  to  thawing,  and  this  brings  about  land- 
slides that  may  much  increase  the  cost  of  construction  and 
maintenance. 

No  permanent  ground  frost  occurs  along  the  Pacific 
littoral,  and  the  same  probably  holds  true  of  most  of  the 
Susitna  and  Matanuska  basins.  There  is  considerable  per- 
manently frozen  ground  in  the  Copper  River  Valley,  es- 
pecially along  the  foothills  and  slopes  of  the  Alaska  Range. 
In  the  Yukon  Basin  permanently  frozen  ground  is  the  rule, 
except  under  conditions  described  above. 


Resources. — The  mineral  wealth  of  Alaska  is  at  present 
its  most  important  resource,  but  the  Territory  also  includes 
extensive  tracts  of  farming  and  grazing  lands  and  many 
water  powers.  Excellent  timber  occurs  in  southeastern 
Alaska,  while  the  inland  forests  are  valuable  for  local  use. 
There  are  also  valuable  fisheries  along  the  Pacific  seaboard 
which,  while  they  will  not  furnish  tonnage  for  the  rail- 
ways, yet  aflfect  the  transportation  problem  by  furnishing 
additional  business  for  the  steamers  connecting  with  pro- 
posed coastal  terminals. 

The  developed  mineral  resources  of  Alaska  include 
gold  lodes  and  placers,  copper,  tin,  and  silver  deposits,  to- 
gether with  petroleum,  marble  and  gypsum.  There  are 
also  extensive  fields  of  bituminous  and  lignitic  coal   and 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  125 

some  iron  ores,  which  are  practically  undeveloped.  In 
addition  to  these,  silver-lead,  zinc,  antimony,  quicksilver, 
and  other  ores,  and  peat,  graphite,  asbestos,  and  mica  have 
been  found. 

Gold  lode  mining  has  been  carried  on  in  southeastern 
Alaska  since  1882,  and  is  a  large  and  well-developed  in- 
dustry. The  value  of  the  total  lode  production  is  about 
157,000,000,  of  which  |4,600,000  should  be  credited  to  1912. 
Copper  mining  began  in  1900  and  has  made  rapid  strides 
during  the  past  few  years.  The  total  copper  production  is 
about  90,000,000  pounds,  valued  at  |13,145,000.  Of  this, 
28,940,000  pounds,  valued  at  about  |4,630,000,  represents 
the  output  of  1912. 

Placer  mining,  begun  at  Juneau  in  1880,  was  extended 
to  the  Yukon  Basin  in  1886.  No  very  important  discov- 
eries of  placer  gold  were,  however,  made  in  Alaska  until 
aftet  the  Klondike  rush  of  1898.  This  brought  a  large 
number  of  people  into  the  Territory  and  led  to  the  finding 
of  gold  at  Nome  in  1898,  at  Fairbanks  in  1901,  and  in  the 
Innoko-Iditarod  region  in  1908.  Meanwhile  the  other 
smaller  districts  were  developed,  notably  those  of  the 
Yukon,  the  Copper,  and  the  Susitna  basins.  The  total  gold 
output  of  all  the  placer  mines  has  a  value  of  |145,000,000, 
while  the  placer-mine  output  of  1912  has  an  estimated 
value  of  $12,000,000.  Silver  has  been  recovered,  incidental 
to  gold  and  copper  mining,  to  the  total  value  of  about 
11,800,000.  The  value  of  the  output  of  tin,  marble,  gypsum, 
petroleum,  lead,  etc.,  to  the  close  of  1912  is  about  |1,000,000. 

The  exploitation  of  coal  deposits  on  Cook  Inlet  in 
1854  by  the  Russians  was  the  first  attempt  at  any  form  of 
mining  within  the  Territory.  Though  public  attention  has 
for  several  years  been  focused  on  the  coal  deposits  of 
Alaska,  no  coal  mining  has  been  carried  on  except  that  of 
exploring  lignitic  deposits  for  local  use,  which  was  begun 
thirteen  years  ago.  Large  sums  have  been  spent  on  sur- 
veys, development  work,  etc.,  in  the  Bering  River  and 
Matanuska  fields.     In  spite  of  all  this  activity  the  total 


126  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

output  of  coal  in  the  Territory  up  to  the  close  of  1912  is 
insignificant,  being  less  than  40,000  tons.  During  this 
period  upwards  of  1,500,000  tons  of  coal  have  been  imported 
into  the  Territory. 

To  sum  up,  Alaska  has  produced  to  date  mineral 
wealth  having  an  aggregate  value  of  1229,000,000,  of  which 
about  122,000,000  is  to  be  credited  to  the  year  1912.  This 
output  is  remarkable,  considering  that  large  mining  opera- 
tions are  practically  confined  to  the  coastal  region,  easily 
accessible  to  ocean  transportation,  and  that  the  vast  min- 
eral wealth  of  the  interior,  except  the  richest  of  the  gold 
placers,  is  almost  untouched. 

The  resources  of  the  entire  Territory  having  been 
briefly  considered,  it  remains  to  deal  more  specifically  with 
those  of  central  Alaska,  comprising  that  part  of  the  Terri- 
tory here  under  consideration.  An  outline  of  these  re- 
sources will  here  be  presented. 

Gold  placers,  copper  and  gold  lode  mines  have  been 
operated  in  central  Alaska,  and  silver  has  been  recovered 
incidentally  to  gold  mining.  There  has  also  been  a  small 
output  of  coal  and  petroleum.  Of  the  kinds  of  mineral  de- 
posits which  are  practically  undeveloped,  there  are  exten- 
sive coal  fields,  silver-lead  ores,  tin  and  antimony  deposits, 
etc.  In  addition  to  these,  some  iron  ore  deposits  have  been 
found,  but  their  commercial  value  remains  to  be  proven. 

Auriferous  gravels  are  very  widely  distributed  in  cen- 
tral Alaska,  and  their  exploitation  has  yielded  gold  to  the 
value  of  nearly  $90,000,000.  Most  of  this  has  been  taken 
from  deposits  which  were  very  rich,  for  the  high  cost  of 
operating  here  prevented  the  exploitation  of  the  more  exten- 
sive deposits  of  lesser  gold  tenor. 

The  high  cost  of  mining  in  the  interior  has  in  a  large 
measure  deterred  the  prospector  from  searching  for  auri- 
ferous lodes,  as  only  the  richest  and  most  favorably  situ- 
ated of  such  deposits  could  be  profitably  exploited  under 
present  conditions.  Gold  lodes  have,  however,  been  found 
in  many  parts  of  the  province  and  have  been  successfully 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  127 

mined  in  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  in  Willow  Creek  district  of 
the  Susitna  Basin,  and  in  the  Fairbanks  district. 

The  copper  deposits  of  central  Alaska  are  among  its 
most  important  resources.  The  only  developed  copper  dis- 
trict is  that  of  the  Chitina  Valley,  from  which  one  mine 
began  shipments  in  1911.  Considerable  development  has 
also  been  done  on  copper  deposits  which  lie  in  a  belt 
stretching  from  Nabesna  Kiver  to  White  River.  This  field 
gives  promise  of  becoming  an  important  producer  when 
rendered  accessible  by  a  railway.  Copper  deposits  have 
also  been  found  in  other  parts  of  the  province,  but  about 
these  less  is  known. 

The  coal  fields  of  central  Alaska  are  extensive  and  in- 
clude' some  of  the  best  coal  of  the  Territory.  High-grade 
steaming  and  coking  bituminous  coals  as  well  as  some 
anthracite  are  found  in  the  Bering  River  and  Matanuska 
coal  fields.  Much  of  this  coal  is  crushed  and  will  furnish 
a  large  percentage  of  slack,  and  in  many  instances  the 
coal  beds  have  been  so  deformed  as  to  prevent  their 
profitable  mining.  While  the  percentage  of  the  coal  beds 
that  can  be  profitably  mined  can  only  be  determined  by 
actual  exploitation,  yet  the  fact  remains  that  these  two 
fields  contain  much  workable  coal  of  a  higher  grade  than 
any  now  known  in  that  part  of  the  North  American  con- 
tinent tributary  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  Though  the  high- 
grade  coals,  so  far  as  known,  are  limited  to  these  two 
fields,  lignitic  coal  is  widely  distributed.  The  Nenana  field, 
lying  about  60  miles  southwest  of  Fairbanks,  is  the  largest 
of  the  lignitic  coal  fields,  but  a  similar  grade  of  fuel  has 
also  been  found  in  the  Susitna  ^^asin  and  reported  in  the 
upper  Kuskokwim  Basin. 

There  are  large  tracts  of  arable  and  grazing  lands  in 
central  Alaska  for  the  most  part  unutilized,  because  of 
the  lack  of  transportation.  The  census  of  1910  shows  that 
there  were  2,660  acres  of  improved  farm  lands  in  Alaska, 
most  of  which  is  in  the  province  here  under  discussion. 
Up  to  the  present  time  hay  and  potatoes,  with  a  variety 


128  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

of  garden  vegetables,  have  been  the  chief  crops.  In  1910 
nearly  $100,000  worth  of  potatoes  and  |100,000  worth  of 
hay  were  produced.  Oats,  barley,  and  rye  can  be  ripened 
in  many  parts  of  the  Territory.  Up  to  the  present  time 
only  a  small  amount  of  wheat  has  been  ripened,  but  it 
seems  certain  that  this  grain  can  be  successfully  raised, 
at  least  in  the  Tanana  and  Susitna  Valleys. 

The  largest  areas  of  agricultural  lands  are  located 
in  the  Susitna,  Tanana,  and  upper  Kuskokwim  valleys,  and 
there  are  smaller  tracts  in  the  Copper  River  Valley  and  in 
other  parts  of  the  province.  Considerable  profitable  farm- 
ing has  been  carried  on  near  Fairbanks,  where  a  local  mar- 
ket is  reached  by  wagon  roads.  A  number  of  homesteads 
have  been  taken  up  near  Knik,  in  the  Susitna  region,  and 
more  would  be  entered  if  there  were  any  means  of  getting 
products  to  market.  Agricultural  land  in  Alaska  is  not 
likely  to  yield  any  crops  for  export  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
but  with  the  increase  of  local  markets  following  the  mining 
development  after  railway  construction,  farming  commu- 
nities will  spring  up  at  many  localities. 

In  addition  to  the  farming  lands  there  are  much 
larger  areas  of  good  grass  land,  and  cattle  raising  is  likely 
to  become  an  important  industry  in  parts  of  this  field. 
With  the  decrease  of  the  western  ranges  in  the  States, 
Alaska  may  before  long  be  drawn  upon  for  beef  and  mut- 
ton. The  reindeer  is  another  source  of  food  supply  in 
Alaska.  Domesticated  reindeer  have  been  successfully 
raised  in  Alaska  for  upward  of  30  years,  the  herds  now 
aggregating  about  40,000  head.  The  coastal  barren  grounds 
of  Bering  Sea  and  the  Arctic  Ocean  furnish  the  most  ex- 
tensive reindeer  pastures  of  the  Territory.  Reindeer  moss 
also  grows  abundantly  on  the  uplands  above  the  line  of 
good  timber  and  grass  in  many  parts  of  central  Alaska. 
It  is  conservative  to  state  that  Alaska  has  pasturage  for 
several  million  reindeer. 

The  water  powers  of  central  Alaska  are  chiefly  limited 
to  the  high  ranges  and  the  adjacent  foothills.     Their  dis- 


BIG  CATCH  OF  SALOMON  IN  WATERS  OF  ALASKA 

Photo    copyright    by   F.    H.    Xowell. 


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Photo  by  Curtis  &  Miller. 


CLIMATE  AND  RESOURCES  129 

tribution  is  in  a  large  measure  controlled  by  the  distribu- 
tion of  rainfall.  Water  powers  are  most  abundant  on  the 
seaward  slope  of  the  coastal  ranges,  but  are  also  found 
on  both  slopes  of  the  high  ranges  lying  further  inland. 


ig.  f). 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE   TRANSPORTATION   ISSUE. 


The  Alaska  Road  Commission  and  its  Good  Work — The 
Land  Route  prom  Fairbanks  to  Nome — The  Alaska 
Railroad  Commission — The  Beginning  of  a  New  De- 
parture— Work  and  Recommendations  op  the  Com- 
mission— The  Commission  Tells  the  World  of  the 
Great  Value  of  Alaska — Transportation  Develop- 
ment UP  TO  1913 — The  New  Order. 


THE  reader,  in  addition  to  what  he  previously  may 
have  known,  now  possesses  a  somewhat  complete 
knowledge  of  the  natural  resources  of  Alaska,  and, 
in  part,  of  their  earlier  development.  But  as  to  the  latter, 
we  have  yet  to  cover  the  greater  part  of  that  progress. 
Inasmuch  as  Alaska  presents  a  great  commercial  problem, 
the  question  of  transportation,  both  inland  and  external 
to  the  Territory,  but  affecting  its  development  is  primary; 
and  it  is  admitted  that  anything  like  a  complete  under- 
standing of  the  transportation  interests  of  the  country  re- 
quires a  study  of  the  topography  of  the  territory,  the  in- 
land navigable  waters,  the  practical  railroad  routes,  other 
land  transportation  routes,  the  various  ocean  routes  con- 
necting the  possible  ports  of  the  territory,  with  Puget 
Sound  and  Pacific  Coast  cities,  the  commerce,  industries, 
climate,  population,  resources  of  the  country,  and  the 
roads,  trails  and  land  and  water  arteries  of  travel  already 
in  use,  as  well  as  those  yet  to  be  adopted. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  enter  upon  an  historical  ac- 
count of  this  much  delayed  development  to  any  great  extent, 

(130) 


THE  TRANSPORTATION  ISSUE  131 

but  it  may  be  observed  that  the  goyernment  investigation 
of  this  subject  was  begun  in  1904,  when  by  act  of  congress 
the  Alaska  Road  Commission  was  appointed,  and  its  work 
placed  under  the  direction  of  the  War  Department.  This 
board,  therefore,  is  composed  of  army  officers,  and  Colonel 
W.  P.  Richardson  has  been  its  executive  officer  since  its 
creation.  The  work  of  the  board  has  been  the  location,  con- 
struction and  maintenance  of  military  and  post  roads, 
bridges  and  trails. 

Capt.  R.  H.  Stretch,  assistant  secretary  of  the  Alaska 
Bureau  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce,  in  one  of  his 
many  compilations  condensing  official  reports  on  the 
progress  of  this  commission,  says : 

"In  1906  by  special  act  of  Congress  a  bill  was  passed 
authorizing  the  survey  of  a  land  route  from  Fairbanks  to 
Nome  under  the  direction  of  the  Alaska  Road  Commission. 
This  survey  really  initiates  the  work  of  the  government 
investigation  of  the  trans-Alaskan  routes.  Reconnaissance 
and  surveys  were  continued  during  1907  and  1908  by  en- 
gineers under  the  direction  of  the  Alaska  Road  Commis- 
sion, who  investigated  all  routes  into  and  through  the 
interior.  As  a  result  of  these  investigations  the  routes 
from  Valdez  and  Chitina  to  Fairbanks  and  from  Haines 
to  the  international  boundary  were  improved  by  the  con- 
struction of  wagon  roads,  and  the  route  from  Kern  Creek 
through  the  lower  region  of  the  Susitna  Valley  and  into 
the  Kuskokwim  and  Innoko  valleys  and  northwesterly  on 
to  the  Seward  Peninsula  and  Nome  was  improved  by  the 
construction  of  a  winter  trail.  Chitina  is  on  the  line  of 
the  Copper  River  and  Northwestern  Railroad,  131  miles 
from  Cordova.  Kern  Creek  is  the  present  terminus  of 
the  Alaska  Northern  Railroad,  seventy-two  miles  from 
Seward.  The  route  from  Haines  is  the  one  selected  by 
the  Alaska  Midland  Railroad  Company  for  their  projected 
railroad  to  the  interior  and  Fairbanks." 


132  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

111  the  fall  of  1912,  by  act  of  Congress  the  Alaska 
Railroad  Commission  was  appointed.  The  membership  of 
this  commission  follows:  Jay  J.  Morrow,  Major,  Corps  of 
Engineers,  U.  S.  Army;  Alfred  H.  Brooks,  U.  S.  Geo- 
logical Survey;  Leonard  M.  Cox,  civil  engineer,  U.  S.  Navy, 
and  Colin  M.  Ingersoll,  consulting  engineer. 

This  movement  was  the  beginning  of  a  new  departure 
in  transportation  progress  in  Alaska.  "Briefly  the  duties 
of  this  commission  were  defined  by  the  act  of  Congress  to 
examine  railroad  routes  from  the  seaboard  to  the  coal 
fields  and  to  the  interior  and  navigable  waterways,  and  to 
recommend  in  respect  of  most  available  routes  for  rail- 
roads in  Alaska,  which  will  best  develop  the  country  and 
the  resources  thereof  for  the  use  of  the  people  of  the 
United   States." 

After  visiting  Alaska  and  making  extensive  personal 
observations,  taking  a  vast  amount  of  evidence  as  to  the 
practicability  of  routes  and  the  resources  of  the  country, 
the  commission  reported,  recommending  the  immediate 
construction  of  railway  lines  as  follows:  Chitina  to  Fair- 
banks, 313  miles;  Bering  River  coal  branch,  via  Lake 
Charlotte,  38  miles;  Kern  Creek  to  Susitna  Valley,  115 
miles;  Matanuska  coal  branch,  38  miles;  Susitna  Valley 
to  Kuskokwim,  229  miles — at  an  estimated  total  cost  of 
$35,611,000. 

It  is  observed  that  should  the  recommendations  of  this 
railroad  commission  be  carried  out  and  these  lines  be 
built,  the  consummation  will  go  a  long  way  towards  solving 
the  Alaska  transportation  question.  The  proposed 
termini  are  about  300  miles  apart.  "Each  line  would 
open  a  separate  empire  as  large  as  the  State  of  Texas, 
and  would  by  no  means  be  a  competitor  of  the  other.  The 
one  would  open  up  the  Bering  and  Xenana  coal  fields, 
the   mineral    areas    of   the   Copper   River    Basin    and    the 


THE  TRANSPORTATION  1 8 SUE  133 

mineral  and  agricultural  areas  of  the  Tanana.  The 
other  would  open  the  Matanuska  coal  fields,  the  placer 
mining  and  agricultural  industries  of  the  Kenai  Peninsula, 
the  Susitna,  Iditarod  and  Kuskokwim  valleys,  besides 
bringing  the  north  and  northwestern  regions  measurably 
nearer  open  ports." 

In  these  recommendations  the  report  of  the  commis- 
sion states  that,  "The  commission  is  unanimously  of 
the  opinion  that  this  development  should  be  undertaken 
at  once  and  prosecuted  with  vigor;  that  it  cannot  be 
accomplished  without  providing  the  railroads  herein  rec- 
ommended under  some  system  which  will  insure  low  trans- 
poration  charges  and  consequent  rapid  settlement  of  this 
new  land  and  the  utilization  of  its  great  resources.  The 
data  presented  shows  that  the  United  States  possesses  in 
Alaska  a  frontier  territory  of  great  size  and  of  wonderful 
industrial  possibilities.  The  commission  believes  that  its 
climate  is  favorable  to  permanent  settlement  and  to  agri- 
culture; that  its  mineral  resources  are  vast  and  as  yet 
but  little  exploited;  that  its  population  is  sparse,  but  only 
by  reason  of  its  inadequate  transportation  facilities,  and 
that  its  people  are  of  the  same  type  of  hardy  pioneers 
that  have  carried  the  United  States  frontier  to  its  present 
limits." 

It  may  be  noted  that,  aside  from  the  roads  and  trails 
built  along  the  Seward,  Valdez,  Cordova  and  Haines 
routes  into  the  interior,  all  other  roads  and  trails  have 
been  constructed  to  aid  the  development  of  the  various 
mining  camps,  and  have  been  of  most  valuable  service. 
There  is  not,  at  the  present  time,  June,  1914,  a  through 
railway  line  to  the  interior  of  Alaska.  But  there  are 
proposed  railway  routes,  parts  of  which  have  been  con- 
structed and  some  of  these  operated.  The  railroads  and 
wagon  roads  of  the  present  date  are  shown  in  the  following 
table : 


134  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

RAILROADS. 

Miles 

White  Pass  and  Yukon  Route 20y2 

Copper  River  and  Northwestern 196i^ 

Alaska  Northern   72 

Nome.    Seward    Peninsula   Road,    Solomon   River   Road    (not 

operated)       124 

Tanana   Valley   Railway 45 

Yakutat   (cannery)    12 

Cook  Inlet   (coal,  not  operated) 8% 

Katalla   (abandoned)    6 

484  y2 
WAGON  ROADS  AND  TRAILS 

Wagon   roads    847 

Winter  sled  roads 645 

Trails    1569 

Trails,  staked  for  winter  only 450 

3511 
"All  these  railroads  were  constructed  by  private  capital 
and  the  wagon  roads  and  trails  by  the  Government,  the 
latter  at  a  cost  of  $2,205,000,  or  only  |630  per  mile.  Com- 
pare the  above  distances  with  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula, 
about  half  the  size  of  Alaska,  vnth  more  than  8,000  miles 
of  railroads,  and  Norway,  not  one-quarter  the  size,  with 
1.5,000  miles  of  roads,  as  against  847."  There  was  no 
railroad  construction  going  on  in  Alaska  in  1913. 

The  White  Pass  and  Yukon  route  from  Skagway  to 
Dawson  lies  entirely  in  Canadian  territory,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  twenty  and  one-half  miles  of  railway  from  the 
seaboard  to  the  boundary,  at  the  summit  of  White  Pass. 
At  Whitehorse,  lll^'^  miles  from  Skagway,  the  railroad 
connects  with  river  steamers  on  the  Yukon  River  for 
Dawson,  there  being  no  towns  of  importance  between  these 
points.  From  Dawson,  Fairbanks  may  be  reached  by  boats 
during  the  open  season  of  about  five  months. 

The  Alaska  Northern  Road  was  projected  to  open  the 
Matanuska  coal  field,  with  Fairbanks  as  its  ultimate  term- 
inus, but  on  the  reservation  of  all  the  coal  lands  it  fell  into 
financial  difficulties  and  work  was  abandoned.  Its  present 
terminus  is  Kern  Creek,  on  Turnagain  Arm  of  Cook  Inlet, 
seventy-two  miles  from   Seward,   its   ocean   terminus.     As 


THE  TRANSPORTATION  ISSUE  135 

projected  it  would  also  have  opened  up  the  agricultural 
and  mining  lands  of  the  Susitna  Valley,  passed  close  to 
the  Nenana  coal  fields,  and  would  have  been  only  slightly 
longer  than  the  Copper  River  route  to  Fairbanks. 

The  Copper  River  and  Northwestern  Railroad,  having 
had  strong  financial  backing,  and  a  valuable  copper  mine 
as  an  objective  point,  in  addition  probably  to  an  eye  on 
Fairbanks  in  the  future,  was  completed  to  Chitina,  in  the 
Copper  River  Valley,  a  distance  of  131  miles.  From 
Chitina  a  branch  sixty-five  miles  long  of  lighter  construc- 
tion was  built  to  the  Kennicott  Mines,  the  entire  line 
costing  approximately  120,000,000,  including  the  abandoned 
work  toward  an  ocean  terminal  at  Katalla,  near  the  Bering 
coal  fields.  In  winter,  stages  run  from  Chitina  to  Fair- 
banks on  a  triweekly  schedule  of  seven  days.  All  the  other 
short  lines  were  built  to  serve  purely  local  industries. 

At  this  writing,  June,  1914,  railroad  work  in  Alaska 
is  at  a  standstill,  but  activity  on  this  line  now  is  be- 
ginning under  the  immediate  control  of  the  National 
Government,  the  new  Alaska  Government  Railway  bill 
having  become  the  law  of  the  land ;  and  as  the  Congress 
is  pressing  forward  the  work  of  enacting  comprehensive 
land  and  coal  legislation,  it  is  plain  that  a  new  era  of 
development  is  being  inaugurated. 

A  year  or  two  in  advance  of  the  passage  of  the  new 
Government  Railway  bill  by  Congress,  Captain  Stretch 
wrote:  "It  is  only  with  the  construction  of  at  least  two 
trans-Alaskan  railroads  reaching  from  open  harbors  on 
tidewater  into  the  vast  interior  of  Alaska,  with  numerous 
branches  as  feeders,  that  the  wonderful  resources  of 
Alaska  can  be  developed  and  made  to  serve  the  uses  of 
man.  This  is  a  work  of  so  great  a  magnitude  and  cost 
that  without  great  inducements  it  cannot  be  undertaken 
by  private  capital.  These  roads  must  be  constructed  either 
by  the  Government  or  by  Government  aid.  The  method 
is  for  our  people  to  decide,  and  it  must  be  decided  without 
further  delay. 


136  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

"With  the  construction  of  these  roads  and  the  building 
of  the  numerous  branches  as  feeders,  and  with  a  liberal 
policy  of  inducement  and  a  spirit  of  encouragement  to- 
Murd  the  pioneer  and  pioneer  capital,  Alaska  will  pour 
into  the  lap  of  our  people  a  stream  of  wealth  not  only 
of  gold,  copper  and  the  precious  metals,  but  also  of  fish, 
agricultural  products,  meats,  furs  and  coal,  that  will  have 
no  compeer. 

"Alaska  has  a  future  that  cannot  be  pictured  by  the 
most  enthusiastic  optimists.  A  country  that  has  made 
such  a  showing  with  a  mere  handful  of  men  under  the 
most  adverse  and  restrictive  conditions  offers  untold  pos- 
sibilities. The  construction  of  two  trunk  railway  lines 
will  result  in  the  opening  up  of  an  empire  nine  times  as 
great  as  the  State  of  Washington  and  over  nine  times  as 
rich  in  natural  resources.  Its  extent  and  wealth  has  never 
been  approached  by  any  frontier  land.  Here  should  be 
a  future  of  the  greatest  prosperity,  and  it  is  the  duty  of 
our  people  to  see  that  Alaska  secures  the  rational  develop- 
ment which  it  has  so  long  been  denied. 

"Our  day  of  reparation  is  now  at  hand.  Our  united 
efforts  will  be  crowned  with  a  success  that  will  mean  an 
awakened  empire  of  the  North — Alaska,  Our  Frontier 
Wonderland." 

And  now  that  this  coveted  program  is  to  be  carried 
out  by  the  construction  of  these  lines  by  the  National 
Government,  and  by  their  operation  under  the  manage- 
ment of  the  same  authority,  we  confidently  may  expect  to 
realize  all  that  is  predicted  in  the  foregoing  quotations. 
Alaska  now  enters  upon  the  third  period  of  its  life, — a 
period  of  new  opportunities  and  abounding  prosperity.  As 
will  later  be  seen,  Seattle,  in  a  wonderful  interrelation- 
ship, now  is  beginning  to  experience  a  similar  departure. 
Now  we  are  to  have  a  new  and  greater  Alaska,  and  by  the 
same  token,  the  people  will  realize  the  new  and  greater 
Seattle. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  TRANSPORTATION  ROUTES. 


Topography — The  Arctic  Portion  of  Alaska — The  Ter- 
ritory South  op  the  Endicott  Range — The  Pacific 
Mountain  System  —  The  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim 
Valleys — Open  Bottom  Lands  and  Gently  Rolling 
Uplands — The  Mighty  Rivers  and  Basins — The  Har- 
bors— Routes  of  Travel. 


THE  Report  of  the  Alaska  Railway  Commission,  sub- 
mitted to  the  President  in  January,  1913,  contains 
a  somewhat  connected,  and  of  course,  a  reliable 
account  of  the  present  transportation  routes,  river  navi- 
gation accommodations,  railroads  existing  at  that  date, 
main  routes  of  travel,  wagon  roads  of  the  country,  which, 
at  the  risk  of  slight  repetitions  is  here  condensed  for  the 
benefit  of  the  student  of  this  New  Wonderland.  Knowing 
the  source  of  this  particular  compilation,  the  reader  will 
be  in  a  position  to  place  a  proper  estimate  upon  its 
value. 

To  begin  with,  a  brief  statement  of  the  topography 
of  the  country  is  desirable  and  is  given  in  this  place. 
Alaska,  as  already  noted,  is  a  territory  of  great  size,  about 
one-fifth  that  of  the  total  area  of  the  United  States.  About 
a  quarter  of  its  area  lies  north  of  the  Endicott  Range, 
which  itself  is  north  of  the  Arctic  Circle.  This  portion  of 
the  territory  is  Arctic,  and  it  alone  presents  the  bleak  and 
frozen  aspect  popularly  associated  with  Alaska.  South  of 
this  range  in  Alaska,  there  is  an  area  greater  than  that  of  all 
the  states  east  of  the  Mississippi  and  north  of  the  Ohio 

(137) 


138  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

River  and  Mason  and  Dixon's  line,  which  is  as  capable  of 
high  development  as  many  well-settled  and  rich  countries. 

The  Pacific  Mountain  System  fronts  the  coast,  extend- 
ing from  British  Columbia  in  a  huge  arc  and  tailing  out  in 
the  Alaska  Peninsula.  This  system  is  widest  in  the 
several  ranges  which  divide  Central  Alaska  from  Southern 
Alaska,  just  north  of  Prince  William  Sound,  and  stands 
as  a  barrier  separating  the  comparatively  small  coastal 
valleys  from  the  two  great  inland  valleys  of  the  Yukon 
and  the  Kuskokwim,  which  themselves  are  separated  by  a 
comparatively  low  divide.  Both  these  great  valleys  may 
be  described  as  regions  characterized  by  broad  open  bot- 
tom lands  and  gently  rolling  uplands. 

The  Yukon  River,  draining  the  greater  of  these  basins, 
enters  the  Bering  Sea  at  a  latitude  which  prohibits  the 
use  of  the  stream  as  a  connection  with  ocean-borne  com- 
merce excepting  during  three  summer  months.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  Kuskokwim,  though  ocean  commerce 
may  reach  its  mouth  for  an  additional  month.  Both  of 
these  rivers  have  difficult  entrances;  that  of  the  Yukon 
being  a  shifting  channel  of  little  depth  across  mud  flats; 
and  the  entrance  to  the  Kuskokwim,  while  deep  enough  for 
the  smaller  ocean  steamers,  is  extremely  tortuous  and  not 
well  known.  Once  inside,  however,  each  presents  a  long 
stretch  of  navigable  water  for  the  ordinary  river  boat. 
The  Yukon  is  navigable  up  to  White  Horse  in  Canada, 
about  2,200  miles,  and  its  greatest  tributary,  the  Tanana, 
is  navigable  without  difficulty  to  Chena,  near  Fairbanks, 
and  at  times  has  been  navigated  much  farther,  though  with 
difficulty.  The  Kuskokwim  is  navigable  to  the  Forks,  about 
fifty  miles  above  the  Takotna,  or  about  650  miles  from  the 
mouth.  Both  of  these  streams  have  navigable  tributaries 
which  extend  their  scope  as  transportation  routes,  and  to- 
gether provide  about  5,000  miles  of  navigable  waters  in  the 
two  systems.  The  open  season  is  about  three  to  three  and 
a  half  months,  and  although  short,  and  though  navigation 
is  subject  to  occasional  brief  interruption  in  places  by  low 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  TRANSPORTATION  ROUTES  139 

water,  there  is  a  possibility  of  their  utilization  as  trans- 
portation routes  in  the  development  of  the  two  great  valleys 
that  will  suffice  for  years  to  come. 

There  are  other  lesser  valleys  with  navigable  waters. 
Of  these  the  Copper  and  Susitna  are  the  most  important. 
These  two  rivers  are  more  important  as  oflfering  the  best 
possibilities  of  penetrating  the  coastal  range  by  rail  lines 
than  for  purposes  of  navigation.  The  Copper  River  breaks 
through  the  Chugach  Range,  but  with  a  slope  so  steep  as  to 
make  navigation  difficult  and  hazardous,  though  not  im- 
possible. It  is  believed  that  the  transportation  possibilities 
of  the  stream  are  not  worthy  of  serious  consideration, 
although  some  stretches  of  it  may  be  used  to  some  extent 
for  local  business.  The  Susitna,  in  its  lower  reaches,  is 
navigable  for  river  boats,  though  its  entrance  from  Cook 
Inlet  is  difficult.  It  has  possibilities  of  assisting  as  a 
transportation  route  on  a  small  scale. 

There  are  a  few  other  minor  streams  which  are  now 
navigable  for  short  reaches  and  will  continue  to  be  so  used, 
but  they  may  be  dismissed  from  consideration  with  the 
statement  that  they  have  no  important  bearing  on  the 
large  problem  of  transportation  in  the  Territory. 


A  number  of  good  harbors  along  the  Pacific  seaboard 
of  Alaska  are  now  connected  with  nearby  inland  points 
by  railroads  and  trails,  or  by  wagon  roads  and  trails  only. 
All  these  harbors  as  far  west  as  Cook  Inlet  are  open 
throughout  the  year,  and  are  from  1,000  to  1,400  statute 
miles  from  Puget  Sound  ports.  At  present  summer  steam- 
boat service  of  about  six  trips  a  month  is  maintained  with 
the  more  important  of  these  ports,  and  in  addition  some 
freighters  carry  coal  and  other  supplies  north  and  bring 
back  cargoes  of  fish  and  ore.  The  ports  of  Southeastern 
Alaska  have  more  frequent  service.  During  the  winter  the 
service  is  continued,  but  is  less  frequent.  During  the 
summer,  of  about  three  and  a  half  months,  ocean  steamers 


140  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

make  the  trip  between  Puget  Sound  and  St.  Michael  and 
Nome.  There  is  also  an  occasional  steamer  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Kuskokwim  and  other  points  in  Bering  Sea. 


Continuing  the  substance  of  the  Railroad  Commission 
Report,  it  is  noted  that  at  the  present  time  the  interior  of 
Alaska  is  most  conveniently  accessible  during  the  three  or 
four  summer  months,  June  to  September  inclusive.  Fair- 
banks, the  center  of  the  Yukon-Tanana  basin  may  be 
reached  by  two  routes.  The  first  involves  a  1,000-mile 
steamer  trip  from  Seattle,  through  the  inland  passage,  to 
Skagway,  then  110  miles  of  rail  over  the  White  Pass  to 
White  Horse,  the  head  of  Yukon  navigation.  A  transfer 
is  here  made  to  a  Canadian  river  steamer  which  reaches 
Dawson,  460  miles  downstream.  From  Dawson  an  Amer- 
ican steamer  is  used  to  Fairbanks,  a  further  distance  of 
1,000  miles.  This  route  is  used  chiefly  for  high-class 
freight  and  passengers. 

Most  of  the  freight,  however,  for  Fairbanks  is  shipped 
to  St.  Michael  by  ocean  vessels.  Here  it  is  trans-shipped 
to  river  steamers  which  are  exposed  to  the  open  sea  before 
entering  the  mouth  of  the  river.  These  steamers  carry 
the  freight  up  the  Yukon  and  Tanana  rivers.  The  mileage 
of  this  route  is  about  2,700  miles  of  ocean  travel  from 
Seattle  and  about  1,100  miles  of  river  travel,  and  usually 
occupies  about  a  month.  All  rates  are  high,  which  is 
accounted  for  by  the  short  season,  expensive  fuel  and 
cost  of  trans-shipping  on  both  routes.  The  valley  of  the 
Kuskokwim  is  not  so  well  served.  Small  steamers  reach 
Bethel,  and  a  few  river  steamers  distribute  freight  to  river 
points  nearest  the  camps,  whence  they  are  hauled,  usually, 
during  the  winter  season. 


Probably  the  most  important  road  constructed  by 
the  board  of  road  commissioners  is  the  one  over  which 
the    Alaska    Railroad    Commission    traveled.      This    road 


TOPOGRAPHY  AND  TRANSPORTATION  ROUTES  141 

connects  Fairbanks  with  Valdez  on  the  coast  and  with 
Chitina  on  the  Copper  Kiver  Railroad,  and  forms  the 
present  winter  route  between  Fairbanks  and  the  outside 
world.  On  this  route,  throughout  the  winter  months,  a 
regular  stage  company  operates  a  line  carrying  freight, 
passengers,  and  mail.  In  the  early  winter  and  in  the 
spring  wheel  stages  are  used,  but  through  most  of  the 
winter  season  horse  sleds  carry  the  traffic.  As  the  service 
is  expensive,  the  freight  and  passenger  rates  are  high. 

The  Kuskokwim  Valley  and  the  Iditarod  section,  im- 
mediately adjacent  thereto,  are  much  more  poorly  provided 
with  transportation  than  the  Yukon  and  Tanana  valleys. 
A  winter  sled  road  has  been  built  from  the  end  of  the 
Alaska  Northern  Railroad  at  Kern  Creek,  on  Turnagain 
Arm,  up  the  Susitna  Valley,  and  across  the  divide  into 
the  Iditarod  region. 

To  sum  up,  all  Alaska  has  less  than  500  miles  of  rail- 
way in  nine  disconnected  systems,  less  than  1,000  miles  of 
wagon  road,  600  mile.s  of  winter  sled  roads,  and  less  than 
2,000  miles  of  trails,  with  5,000  miles  of  important  navig- 
able waterways  which  are  closed  by  ice  for  about  three- 
quarters  of  the  year,  and  this  in  a  country  comparable  in 
size,  resources,  and  climate  to  Norway  and  Sweden. 

From  this  brief  statement  it  may  be  seen  that  trans- 
portation is  difficult  and  expensive.  The  great  interior  can 
only  be  reached  in  the  winter  at  an  expense  almost  pro- 
hibitive except  for  high-class  freight,  and  even  in  the  short 
summer  season  transportation  is  sufficiently  difficult  to 
justify  rates  which  might  be  considered  excessive  else- 
where. 


CHAPTER   XVIII. 


STUDY    OF    RAILWAY    ROUTES. 


Work  op  the  Railroad  Commission  op  Alaska — Its 
Labors  and  Conclusions — A  Summary  op  the  Several 
Proposed  Routes — Important  Hints  to  Those  Intend- 
ing TO  Engage  in  Alaskan  Industry  and  Business. 


NEARLY  every  one  who  studies  Alaska  this  year  and 
next  will  do  so  from  the  point  of  view  of  routes 
of  travel,  primarily,  as  to  railway  routes,  and,  in  a 
secondary  sense,  as  to  roads  and  trails.  If  one  be  interested 
in  townsites,  this  will  be  the  key  to  the  solution  of  his 
problem.  In  short,  no  matter  what  the  specific  object  may 
be,  it  will  turn  upon  the  questions  of  transportation  and 
travel,  and  these  interests,  of  course,  must  be  governed  by 
the  natural  distribution  of  the  resources  of  the  Territory, 
and  the  other  problem  of  gradients.  We  all  know  that  it 
is  through  the  passes  of  the  Pacific  Mountain  Range  that 
a  practical  railway  route,  or  routes  must  be  sought  and 
found. 

This  mountain  system,  says  the  Railway  Commission 
Report,  which  fringes  the  coast  line  of  British  Columbia  and 
stretches  northward  into  Alaska,  presents  a  formidable 
barrier  to  inland  travel.  It  is  a  single  range  fifty  to  eighty 
miles  wide  along  the  boundary  of  British  Columbia  and 
Alaska,  but  broadens  out  as  it  enters  the  Territory,  and 
reaches  an  extreme  width  of  200  miles,  made  up  of  a 
number  of  parallel  ranges.  The  great  interior  valleys  lie 
north  of  these  mountains,  and  all  the  ice-free  ports  lie  south 
of  them. 

(142) 


STUDY  OF  RAILWAY  ROUTES  143 

Proceeding  westward,  the  first  pass  which  would  develop 
other  than  wholly  Canadian  territory  is  now  reached  and 
traversed  by  the  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Railway.  Chilkoot 
Pass,  almost  adjacent,  is  higher  and  not  feasible  for  railway 
development. 

The  next  pass  to  the  westward,  says  the  Railway  Com- 
mission Report,  is  the  one  which  would  be  used  by  a 
railway  route  based  upon  either  Pyramid  Harbor,  an 
arm  of  Lynn  Canal,  or  Haines,  a  bay  on  the  west  side  of 
Lynn  Canal,  The  road  would  ascend  the  Chilkat  River, 
whose  headwaters  are  separated  from  streams  flowing 
into  the  Alsek  by  passes  about  3,200  feet  high.  Once  over 
these  passes,  the  route  would  follow  a  series  of  natural 
depressions  parallel  to  the  inland  front  of  the  St.  Elias 
Range,  traverse  the  broad  flat  divide  between  the  White 
and  Tanana  basins,  and  follow  the  Tanana  Valley  to 
Fairbanks.  The  principal  things  that  militate  against  it 
are  that  it  is  the  longest  of  all  proposed  routes  and  that 
it  lies  in  foreign  territory  for  nearly  half  its  distance  to 
Fairbanks. 

The  next  available  pass  would  be  that  used  by  a 
route  on  Yakutat  Bay  as  its  terminus.  This  road  would 
run  southwestwardly  for  about  fifty  miles,  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Alsek  River,  and  ascend  the  Alsek  Valley,  reaching 
the  Pyramid  Harbor-Tanana  route  about  200  miles  from 
the  coast.  This  route  is  not  available.  Its  harbor  is  in- 
different. The  resources  along  the  route  are  somewhat 
inferior,  compared  to  other  lines.  The  topography  is  very 
rugged,  and  it  also  passes  through  Canadian  territory. 

Passing  westward,  the  next  route  of  access  to  the  in- 
terior is  afforded  by  the  great  Copper  River  Valley.  Three 
general  routes  up  the  valley  have  been  proposed:  First, 
from  either  Cordova  or  Katalla,  directly  up  the  river; 
second,  from  Valdez  across  Marshall  Pass  and  down  the 
Tasnuna  to  the  Copper  River  Valley,  and,  third,  from 
Valdez    over    Thompson    Pass    and    a    lesser    summit    at 


144  ALASKA;  IT^  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Ernestine,  and  thence  to  the  Copper  River  at  a  point  near 
Copper  Center. 

Along  the  first  of  these  routes  the  Copper  River  and 
Northwestern  Railway  has  already  been  constructed  to 
Chitina,  132  miles  from  Cordova.  It  is  the  longest  of  the 
three  routes,  but  has  no  grades  to  surmount,  until  the 
divide  between  the  Copper  River  and  the  Yukon  basins  is 
reached.  The  other  two  routes,  while  shorter,  have  to 
surmount  either  an  elevation  of  1,860  feet  at  Marshall 
Pass,  or  one  of  2,750  feet  at  the  Thompson  Pass,  before 
the  Copper  River  Valley  itself  is  reached.  All  three  routes 
follow  practically  the  same  line  from  Copper  Center  up 
Gulkana  River  and  one  of  its  tributaries,  across  the  divide 
to  the  headwaters  of  Delta  River,  and  down  that  stream 
and  Tanana  River  to  Fairbanks. 

The  headwaters  of  the  Copper  are  separated  by  the 
Alaska  Range  from  the  valleys  of  the  White  and  Tanana 
rivers,  and  there  are  possibilities  that  may  be  considered 
for  connecting  these  valleys  with  a  railroad  system  lying 
in  the  valley  of  the  Copper  River,  by  lines  across  the 
Alaska  Range  through  Mentasta  and  Skolai  passes. 

The  next  available  port  is  Seward,  in  Resurrection 
Bay.  From  this  town  the  Alaska  Northern  Railroad  has 
started  the  construction  of  a  railroad  which  crosses  the 
Kenai  Mountains  and  reaches  tidewater  at  its  present 
terminus  on  Turnagain  Arm,  a  branch  of  Cook  Inlet.  An  > 
extension  of  this  railroad  could  reach  the  Copper  River 
plateau  by  following  up  Knik  Arm  and  Matanuska  Valley 
over  Tahneta  Pass  at  an  elevation  of  about  3,000  feet,  and 
so  reach  the  Copper  River  at  a  point  near  Copper  Center. 
The  Tanana  Valley  could  be  reached  either  by  extension 
of  this  line  as  previously  outlined  or  by  Susitna  River, 
from  whose  upper  waters  the  headwaters  of  the  Nenana 
River  may  be  most  easily  reached  by  Broad  Pass,  about 
2,700  feet  high.  This  road  gives  promise  of  allowing  for 
a  connection  with  the  great  Kuskokwim  Basin  through 
one   of   the   passes    leading   from    the    headwaters    of   the 


ALONG  THE  COPPER  RIVER 


Photo    by    E.    A.    Heg 


ON  THE  YUKON  RIVER 

Photo   by   Curtis  &   Miller.  Courtesy   W.    P.    &   Y.    R. 


STUDY  OF  RAILWAY  ROUTES  145 

Yentna,  a  tributary  of  the  Susitna.  Rainy  Pass,  about 
2,950  feet  high,  seems  to  be  most  promising. 

Upper  Cook  Inlet  is  closed  by  ice  during  the  winter 
season.  Were  it  not  for  this  fact,  a  railroad  based  on 
some  harbor  in  this  inlet  might  be  considered.  As  it  is,  it 
seems  necessary  that  any  route  reaching  Cook  Inlet  from 
the  valleys  of  Susitna  or  Matanuska  must  be  carried  across 
the  Kenai  Mountains  to  Seward  along  the  line  of  the 
Alaska  Northern  route,  or  by  other  passes  to  the  westward 
of  that  line. 

West  of  Cook  Inlet,  high  and  rugged  mountains  seem 
to  bar  any  direct  access  to  the  Kuskokwim  from  the  west 
side  of  this  inlet,  but  toward  the  southerly  end  of  the 
inlet  these  mountains  are  less  difficult  and  the  passes 
are  low.  The  Iliamna  Lake  region  offers  a  possible  route 
from  some  such  terminal  point  as  Iliamna  Bay  into  the 
Kuskokwim,  and  from  that  great  valley  possibly  on  into 
the  lower  Yukon  from  which  it  is  separated  by  only  a  low 
watershed. 

The  Report  of  the  Commission  concludes  as  follows: 

"The  routes  considered  by  the  Commission  fall  into 
three  classes: 

"First.  Those  which  reach  the  interior,  but  do  not 
give  economical  access  to  either  of  the  two  principal  coal 
fields.  In  this  class  are:  The  Skagway  route;  the  Haines- 
Fairbanks  route;  the  Iliamna-Kuskokwim  route;  the  Val- 
dez-Fairbanks  route. 

"Second.  Routes  which  reach  the  coal  fields  only.  In 
this  class  fall  the  routes  from  Katalla  and  Controller  Bay. 

"Third.  The  routes  which  reach  the  interior  and  at 
the  same  time  will  furnish  economical  transportation  for 
the  two  coal  fields.  In  this  class  are  the  Cordova-Fair- 
banks route;  the  Seward-Fairbanks  route;  the  Seward- 
Innoko-Iditarod  route. 

"Of  the  routes  that  do  not  reach  either  of  the  principal 
coal  fields,  two  have  their  coastal  terminals  in  Southeastern 
Alaska,  namely,  at  Skagway  and  at  Haines-Pyramid  Har- 


146  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANINO  TO  THE  WORLD 

bor.  Those  two  routes  have  much  in  common,  but  as  be- 
tween the  two  harbors,  the  location  at  Haines,  with  its 
possibilities  of  development  on  both  sides  of  the  peninsula, 
and  with  its  good  anchorage  area,  possesses  advantages 
over  Skagway. 

'The  Commission  believes  that  a  railroad  will  be 
built  at  an  early  date  connecting  Haines  with  the  Cana- 
dian interior,  for  the  development  of  local  resources,  and 
that  the  development  of  Central  Alaska  and  adjacent  por- 
tions of  Canada  will  ultimately  call  for  an  extension  of 
this  line  into  the  Tanana  Valley  and  possibly  on  to  the 
Seward  Peninsula.  The  route  presents  many  attractive 
features ;  but  in  common  with  the  route  based  on  Skagway, 
the  mileage  to  Fairbanks  is  excessive,  is  partly  in  foreign 
territory,  and  as  yet  no  high-grade  coal  has  been  discovered 
which  can  be  conveniently  served  by  either  of  these  routes. 
The  Commission  therefore  feels  justified  in  confining  its 
further  considerations  to  the  routes  reaching  the  interior 
from  ports  on  the  Gulf  of  Alaska  west  of  the  one  hundred 
and  forty-first  meridian. 

''The  third  route,  which  does  not  give  access  to  either 
of  the  principal  coal  fields,  is  the  route  from  one  of  the 
harbors  on  Cook  Inlet  into  the  valley  of  the  Kuskokwim. 
These  harbors  may  be  passed  over  with  the  statement  that 
no  railroad  can  be  based  on  any  of  them  that  will  assist 
in  the  development  of  the  Territory  as  eflSciently  or  as 
economically  as  can  be  done  by  lines  reaching  the  coast 
farther  north  and  east.  They  lie  too  far  southwest  to 
develop  conveniently  the  known  resources  of  the  interior. 
The  Commission,  however,  desires  to  state  that  Iliamna 
Bay  or  Iniskin  Bay  has  possibilities  for  use  as  a  terminal 
for  a  short  line  intended  to  develop  the  resources  and  in- 
dustries of  the  immediately  tributary  region.  This  elim- 
inates all  routes  to  the  interior  that  will  not  economically 
serve  either  of  the  two  principal  coal  fields,  excepting  the 
route  from  Valdez, 


STUDY  OF  RAILWAY  ROUTES  147 

''Valdez  has  a  harbor  inferior  only  to  that  of  Cordova 
and  about  equal  to  that  of  Seward.  There  is  no  probability, 
however,  of  its  being  utilized  as  an  outlet  for  either  Bering 
River  or  Matanuska  coal.  The  commission  considered  the 
possibilities  of  developing  Matanuska  coal  by  way  of  this 
port;  but  the  haul  involves  the  surmounting  of  two  major 
summits  (Tahneta  and  Thompson  passes)  and  one  minor 
summit  (Ernestine),  besides  being  longer  in  distance  than 
the  haul  over  the  alternate  route  to  Seward.  It  is  not  sur- 
prising, therefore,  that  operating  costs  are  shown  to  be 
excessive.  With  industrial  advancement,  it  is  probable  that 
Yaldez  will  require  the  construction  of  one  or  the  other  of 
the  lines  connecting  it  with  the  Copper  River  Valley.  The 
Thompson  Pass  route  would  also  have  value  in  case  equit- 
able trackage  arrangements  for  traffic  through  to  tidewater 
can  not  be  effected  by  the  proposed  Chitina-Fairbanks  road. 

"This  leaves  for  consideration  the  routes  giving  econom- 
ical access  to  the  two  coal  fields.  Before  discussing  these 
routes,  which  are  affected  by  the  development  of  these  fields, 
it  is  desirable  to  briefly  consider  the  coal  question. 

''In  the  absence  of  information  to  the  contrary,  the 
Commission  assumes  that  the  coal  deposits  of  the  Bering 
River  and  Matanuska  fields  are  on  a  parity  as  to  quality 
of  product  and  cost  of  mining.  The  heart  of  the  Bering 
field  lies  about  thirty  miles  from  the  coast  at  either  Katalla 
or  Controller  Bay,  about  seventy-six  miles  from  Cordova, 
and  about  thirty-eight  miles  from  the  existing  tracks  of 
the  Copper  River  and  Northwestern  Railway.  The  heart  of 
the  Matanuska  field  is  187  miles  from  Seward,  115  miles 
from  the  present  northern  terminus  of  the  Alaska  Northern 
Railway.  Both  fields  are  reported  to  contain  bituminous 
coal  of  good  coking  and  steaming  quality,  in  composition 
approximating  the  best  coals  of  the  eastern  fields  in  the 
United  States,  but  both  are  so  folded  and  crushed  as  to  add 
to  the  expense  of  mining  and  to  much  reduce  the  percentage 
of  lump  in  the  output. 


148  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

"It  has  been  shown  by  analyses  of  operation  costs 
that  these  coals  can  probably  be  delivered  at  their  respective 
terminal  points  at  reasonably  low  figures  per  ton.  These 
figures  are  based  on  an  assumed  output  of  about  500,000 
tons  annually,  and  include  only  transportation  and  terminal 
costs.     *     *     * 

''Controller  Bay  and  Katalla  each  require  for  terminal 
development  a  first  cost  of  construction  that  will  assuredly 
be  high  and  will  certainly  require  high  maintenance  charges. 
Moreover,  the  completion  of  such  terminal  would  offer 
harbor  facilities  very  inferior  to  those  that  can,  at  little 
expense  and  at  low  maintenance  charge,  be  had  at  Cordova. 
While  the  costs  of  transportation  to  these  points  are  lower 
than  that  to  Cordova,  the  Commission  believes  that,  for  the 
reasons  cited  above  and  discussed  more  fully  elsewhere,  it 
would  be  unwise  to  attempt  harbor  construction  at  either 
Katalla  or  Controller  Bay  at  present.  An  additional  and 
important  reason  for  this  decision  lies  in  the  fact  that  if 
either  of  these  places  were  developed  as  a  coal-shipping 
port  all  Bering  River  coal  used  in  Alaska  would  have  to 
be  trans-shipped  unless  a  line  from  Katalla  to  a  junction 
with  the  Copper  River  Railway  were  built.  It  is  evident 
that  such  a  railway  would  serve,  for  the  present  at  least, 
to  make  harbor  construction  at  either  Katalla  or  Controller 
Bay  superfluous,  for  it  would  at  once  give  the  coal  an  outlet 
to  tidewater  at  Cordova,  as  well  as  inland  by  the  Copper 
River  Valley. 

"The  Commission  is  of  opinion  that  the  routes  based 
on  Skagway,  Haines,  Iliamna  Bay,  and  Valdez  are  elim- 
inated for  the  lack  of  high-grade  coal,  and  those  based  on 
Katalla  and  Controller  Bay  by  the  present  unsuitable 
harbor  facilities,  which  would  be  remedied  only  by  difficult 
and  costly  construction.  This  reduces  the  discussion  to 
the  three  routes  which  penetrate  inland  Alaska  and  at  the 
same  time  give  convenient  access  to  the  two  coal  fields. 
Two  of  these  routes  reach  the  heart  of  the  Tanana  Valley, 
one  from  Cordova  and  one  from  Seward.    The  third  reaches 


I 


STUDY  OF  RAILWAY  ROUTES  149 

the  Kuskokwim   from   Seward,     The  two   routes   into   the 
Tanana  will  first  be  compared. 

"After  its  study  of  all  available  harbors,  the  Commis- 
sion is  of  the  opinion  that  the  one  at  Cordova  is,  without 
question,  the  best.  It  has  no  disadvantage  not  possessed 
by  all,  and  one  great  advantage  possessed  by  no  other, 
namely,  an  ample  area  of  good  anchorage.  Seward  is  evi- 
dently the  seaport  for  the  Matanuska  coal  and  Cordova 
the  logical  outlet  for  the  Bering  River  coal.  The  compari- 
sons of  transportation  rates  given  in  the  foregoing  data 
show  that  for  an  output  of  500,000  tons  annually  it  will 
cost  11.96  a  ton  more  to  haul  Matanuska  coal  to  Seward 
than  it  will  to  haul  the  Bering  River  coal  to  Cordova,  and 
the  analysis  further  shows  that  for  double  this  output  the 
additional  cost  will  be  fl.ll.  This  places  the  Matanuska 
coal  at  such  disadvantage  that  it  could  probably  not  be 
marketed  at  tidewater  in  competition  with  the  Bering 
River  coal. 

"The  Commission  therefore  recommend  the  construction 
of  railway  lines  as  follows: 

1.  Chitina  to  Fairbanks 313  miles  $13,971,000 

2.  Bering  River  coal  branch,  via  Lake  Charlotte..  38  miles       2,054,000 

3.  Kern  Creek  to  Susitna  Valley 115  miles       5,209,500 

4.  Matanuska  coal  branch 38  miles       1,616,000 

5.  Susitna  Valley  to  Kuskokwim 229  miles     12,760,500 

"In  conclusion,  it  should  be  stated  that  the  Commis- 
sion is  unanimously  of  opinion  that  this  development  should 
be  undertaken  at  once  and  prosecuted  with  vigor;  that  it 
can  not  be  accomplished  without  providing  the  railroads 
herein  recommended  under  some  system  which  will  insure 
low  transportation  charges  and  the  consequent  rapid  settle- 
ment of  this  new  land  and  the  utilization  of  its  great 
resources." 


t/ 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


SOLVING    THE    TRANSPORTATION    PROBLEM. 


An  Educational  Campaign  to  Enlighten  the  World  and 
Awaken  Congress — Light  Beginning  to  Dawn — A 
Rebellion  of  Loyal  Earnestness — The  Oppression  of 
Delays — Breaking  Down  Opposing  Barriers — Secre- 
tary Lane's  Able  Report — President  Wilson's  First 
Message  on  Alaska. 


ASIDE  from  its  wonderful  scenic  attractions,  and  its 
alluring  invitations  to  sportsmen,  the  reader,  from 
the  foregoing,  has  gathered  a  more  or  less  complete 
knowledge  of  Alaska  as  one  would  have  found  it  in  1912, 
expressing  to  its  parent  Federal  Government,  a  strong, 
and  patience-exhausted  demand  for  better  transportation 
facilities.  It  easily  is  seen  that  because  of  its  great  dis- 
tance from  any  central  part  of  the  United  States,  as  well 
as  the  markets  of  the  world;  and  o\sing  to  the  somewhat 
inaccessible  nature  of  the  country,  the  problem  of  trans- 
portation became,  from  the  very  start,  the  all  absorbing 
question  with  the  pioneers  of  Alaska.  It  may  be  said  that 
from  1897-8  to  1912,  such  efforts  as  were  made  to  develop 
the  newly  discovered  resources  of  Alaska  were  most  severely 
overtaxed  by  transportation  burdens, — burdens  in  the 
nature  of  a  poverty  of  these  facilities — and  in  the  ab- 
normal cost  of  such  limited  carrying  conveniences  as  were 
available.  This  condition  has  not  yet  been  removed,  but, 
as  we  shall  see,  adequate  measures  now  are  in  progress, 
well  calculated  to  overcome  it. 

(150) 


SOLVING  THE  TRANSPORTATION  PROBLEM  151 

These  measures,  as  is  quite  well  known,  are  of  a 
character  which  enables  us  to  say  that,  within  two  years, 
at  most,  transportation  accommodations  will  have  been 
so  far  multiplied  and  cheapened  that  Alaska  will  have 
assumed  a  status  of  prosperity,  such  as  will  guarantee 
its  early  commercial  prominence.  It  may  be  said  that 
the  struggle  of  the  pioneers  of  Alaska  for  railroad  trans- 
portation, through  which  the  country  passed  between 
1910  and  1914,  in  one  of  its  phases,  wore  some  of  the 
milder  colors  of  rebellion,  but  this  aspect  did  not  transcend 
the  intensity  of  loyal  earnestness.  It  was  in  the  nature  of 
the  beginning  of  the  end  in  which  victory  has  been 
realized. 

It  ever  has  been  characteristic  of  the  history  of  human 
advancement,  that  pioneer  settlements,  which  pitch  the 
tents  of  progress  a  little  further  ahead,  are  neglected,  and 
sometimes  even  oppressed  by  the  indifference  of  the  central 
power  which  they  represent.  This  was  true  of  the  original 
American  colonies  to  the  extent  that  they  broke  away 
from  the  government  of  their  source  and  set  up  in  national 
business  for  themselves.  The  result  of  this  incident  of 
early  American  history  now  is  visible  in  the  existence  of 
the  United  States  of  America.  It  has  been  true,  to  some 
extent,  in  the  life  of  almost  every  outpost  of  civilization. 
Alaska  has  had  this  experience  in  a  small  measure  only. 
Nevertheless  Alaska  has  had  to  go  through  a  most  heroic 
struggle,  with  many  privations,  in  order  to  bring  the  great 
resources  of  the  country  and  the  rights  of  its  pioneer 
settlers  to  the  attention  and  recognition  of  the  national 
government  and  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

The  passage  of  the  Alaska  Railway  Bill,  signed  by 
President  Wilson  on  March  12,  1914,  is  the  outcome, — 
the  victory  of  this  struggle.  Hence,  a  few  brief  observa- 
tions of  the  salient  features  of  this  agitation,  and  its 
successful  management,  naturally  form  a  proper  feature 
of  this  volume.  The  opposition  to  Alaska,  wliich  sprung 
up  in    the  East  among  the   great   interests,   was   to  have 


152  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

been  expected.  As  long  as  the  new  land  was  esteemed  to 
be  only  the  abode  of  the  precious  metals,  the  great  mon- 
opolies of  the  United  States  could  see  no  danger  to  their 
domain  from  its  development,  but  as  soon  as  Alaska 
became  fully  identified  as  the  home  of  inexhaustible  high 
grade  coal  fields,  the  signal  was  given  to  "lock  it  up." 
The  issue  of  supplying  the  United  States  navy  on  the 
Pacific  with  coal  at  once  became  a  potential  factor, — one 
which  has  delayed  the  development  of  Alaska  at  least 
ten  years. 

But  "one  by  one  the  great  influences  which,  for  selfish 
reasons,"  says  the  Seattle  Times  of  Sunday,  March  15, 
1914,  "had  opposed  the  development  of  Alaska  were  bat- 
tered down.  One  by  one  powerful  influences  in  the  gov- 
ernment were  won  to  the  cause.  Senators,  congressmen, 
governors,  state  legislatures,  commercial  organizations  in 
all  parts  of  the  United  States  were  brought  to  help  the 
proposition.  And  even  the  leaders  of  the  ultra  conserva- 
tion movement,  which  was  largely  responsible  for  the 
tieing-up  of  Alaska,  and  the  injustice  done  the  coal 
claimants,  were  brought  into  line  for  the  railroad  bill  and 
the  result  is  the  logical  consequence  of  the  campaign 
begun  more  than  three  years  ago.  The  government  is  to 
try  an  experiment  in  the  Territory,  and  it  is  conceded 
that  a  government  that  is  great  and  strong  enough  to 
build  and  operate  a  Panama  Canal  is  amply  qualified  to 
build  and  operate  a  railroad  in  Alaska." 

The  reader  is  here  reminded  that  the  public  attitude 
toward  Alaska  greatly  changed  in  the  sixteen  years  from 
1898  to  1914.  At  the  first  date  named,  the  word  Alaska 
was  synonomous  with  the  other  word,  gold.  In  1914, 
Alaska  had  come  to  be  associated  with  ideas  of  transpor- 
tation and  commerce.  This  change  had  been  wrought 
gradually,  but  the  greater  part  of  it  was  accomplished 
in  the  short  period  from  1910  to  the  beginning  of  1914, 
and,  particularly  in  the  shorter  space  of  time  from  De- 
cember,   1913,    to    February,    1914.      Probably    the    severe 


SOLVING  THE  TRANSPORTATION  PROBLEM  153 

want  of  transportation  facilities  felt  in  the  Territory  dur- 
ing the  period  from  1910  to  1914  had  much  to  do  with 
bringing  the  commercial  possibilities  of  Alaska  to  the 
knowledge  of  the  world. 

It  may  be  said  that  Alaska  entered  the  fourteenth 
year  of  the  Twentieth  Century  keenly  suffering  from  the 
need  of  transportation  facilities.  The  construction  of  trails 
and  roads  through  the  most  frequented  sections  of  the 
Territory  had  been  accomplished.  The  building  of  a  trunk 
line  railroad  to  tap  the  valleys  of  the  Tanana,  the  Susitna, 
the  Kuskokwim  and  the  Yukon,  thus  connecting  the  south 
coast  with  the  interior  water  system,  remained  to  be 
accomplished. 

Two  years  ago,  J.  J.  Underwood  wrote  in  the  Alaska- 
Yukon  magazine,  as  follow^s:  "Alaska  has  many  ills.  The 
Territory  needs  many  things.  But  worse  than  anything 
else  it  needs  transportation  facilities.  Every  industry  in 
the  country,  whether  developed  or  to  be  developed,  is  de- 
pendent upon  transportation.  The  great  coal  question, 
important  as  it  is,  is  not  more  important  than  is  trans- 
portation. The  coal  question  is  important  only  in  so  far  as 
it  will  furnish  tonnage  for  railroads.  Without  tonnage 
there  will  be  no  railroads,  and  without  the  coal  sufficient 
tonnage  is  not  forthcoming  to  warrant  the  further  con- 
struction of  railroads. 

"Some  people  may  think  that  the  agricultural  possi- 
bilities of  Alaska  are  visionary,  and  that  a  railroad  for  the 
purpose  of  hauling  agricultural  products  alone  never  will 
pay  the  interest  on  the  bonds.  The  thought  is  not  original. 
The  same  thing  was  said  about  the  building  of  the  Northern 
Pacific  Railroad  to  the  great  Northwest  territory.  It  is 
true  that  there  were  no  profits  in  sight  when  the  railroad 
was  built.  But  the  Government  lent  assistance  that  made 
it  profitable.  *  *  *  Alaska  has  all  of  the  necessary 
possibilities  of  development  of  latent  resources  to  make  it 
attractive  to  railroad  builders.  In  the  Tanana  Valley 
alone,  if  the  figures  of  Government  ex])erts  are  to  be  be- 


154  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

lieved,  there  is  a  greater  area  of  agricultural  and  grazing 
land  than  in  all  of  the  Scandinavian  Peninsula,  a  country 
that  supports  a  population  of  ten  million  people  and  feeds 
them    on    its    own    agricultural    products.      Prof.    C.    C. 
Georgeson,  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
is  authority  for  the  statement  that  Alaska  contains  at  least 
sixty-four  million  acres  of  agricultural  and  grazing  land, 
j  and  he  regards   this  as  a  conservative   estimate.     Basing 
/    his   estimate   on   eleven   years   of  observation   and   experi- 
mental work.   Professor   Georgeson   says   that   Alaska   will 
1     support  a  population  of  three  million  by  agricultural  pur- 
\,  suits  alone,  and  a  great  many  more  if  necessary,  provided 
the    proper    means    of    transportation    is    furnished    the 
settlers." 

At  the  time  the  foregoing  was  printed,  the  pioneers  of 
Alaska,  and  the  people  generally,  did  not  expect  to  be  com- 
pelled to  wait  two  years  and  more  before  Congress  would 
take  definite  action  providing  a  railway  transportation 
system  for  the  new  country,  but  they  have  had  to  suffer 
this  period  of  delay.  However,  relief  is  now  in  sight,  and 
the  most  promising  feature  of  the  new  movement  is  that 
it  is  being  carried  forward  by  direct  Government  action. 

From  1909,  or  even  prior  to  this  date,  until  1912,  or 
during  the  greater  part  of  President  Taft's  administration, 
Alaska  suffered  from  speculators  and  exploiters.  It  is 
not  so  said  as  a  charge  against  the  integrity  or  sagacity  of 
Mr.  Taft's  policy,  but  rather  to  indicate  that  when  meas- 
ures were  adopted  to  put  a  stop  to  spoliation,  stagnation 
settled  down  upon  the  enterprise  of  that  country,  until  a 
readjustment  could  be  brought  about.  A  transformation 
from  the  work  of  the  designing  monopolist  to  that  of  the 
honest,  j)lodding,  fair-minded  developer  is  not  easily 
wrought,  and  always  is  attended  by  business  interruptions. 
Concerning  these  things  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  in  his  annual  report  to  President  Wilson, 
of  1914,  well  says :  "There  is  a  feeling  in  the  West  that 
its  affairs  and  needs  have  not  been  given  that  considera- 


SOLVING  THE  TRANSPORTATION  PROBLEM  155 

tion  at  the  hands  of  the  National  Government  which  they 
merit.  The  feeling  is  not  confined  to  speculators  or  ex- 
ploiters. It  is  the  sentiment  of  many  who  are  without 
selfish  motive  and  regard  the  matter  wholly  from  the 
standpoint  of  national  growth.  They  point  to  the  con- 
ditions which  obtain  in  Alaska  as  unparalleled  among 
people  of  our  aggressive  and  nation-building  stock. 

"So,  too,  they  are  unable  to  understand  why  ways 
have  not  been  found  by  which  the  great  bodies  of  coal  and 
oil  lands,  of  phosphate  and  oil  lands,  may  be  developed, 
and  the  waters  of  the  mountains  made  available  for  the 
generation  of  power  and  the  redemption  of  the  desert. 

"There  is  one  very  simple  explanation  for  the  exist- 
ence of  this  feeling.  We  have  adventured  upon  a  new 
policy  of  administering  our  affairs  and  have  not  developed 
adequate  machinery.  We  have  called  a  halt  on  methods  of 
spoliation  which  existed,  to  the  great  benefit  of  many,  but 
we  have  failed  to  substitute  methods,  sane,  healthful,  and 
progressive,  by  which  the  normal  enterprise  of  an  ambi- 
tious people  can  make  full  use  of  their  own  resources.  We 
abruptly  closed  opportunities  to  the  monopolists,  but  did 
not  open   them  to  the   developer. 

"I  have  said  that  we  put  into  force  a  new  land  policy 
which  caused  dismay  and  discontent.  Let  me  explain  what 
I  mean  by  this.  It  was,  in  fact,  but  a  new  application  of 
an  old  policy.  Congress  has  always  been  most  generous 
as  to  the  disposition  of  the  national  lands.  One  cannot 
read  our  land  laws  without  being  struck  with  the  fixed 
determination  which  they  show  that  it  w^as  wisest  to  be 
quit  of  our  lands  as  quickly  as  possible.  It  might  almost 
be  said  that  the  Government  regarded  its  lands  as  a  burden 
rather  than  an  asset.  We  gave  generously  to  our  railroads 
and  to  the  States.  There  was  land  for  all,  and  it  was 
the  Government's  glad  function  to  distribute  it  and  let 
those  profit  who  could. 

"There  was  no  thought  then  of  creating  timber  barons 
or  cattle  kings,  or  of  coal  monopoly.    The  sooner  the  land 


156  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

got  iuto  bands  other  than  those  of  the  Government  the 
better.  And  this  generous  donor  was  not  so  petty  as  to 
discriminate  between  kinds  of  lands,  the  uses  to  which 
they  could  be  put,  or  the  purposes  which  those  might 
have  who  got  them.  Land  is  land,  save  when  it  contains 
minerals;  this  was  roughly  the  broad  principle  adopted. 
To  classify  was  a  task  too  difficult,  or  not  worth  while. 
The  lands  would  classify  themselves  when  they  arrived  in 
individual  ownership.  And  so  the  door  was  opened  for 
monopoly  and  for  fraud." 

As  the  report  just  quoted  points  out,  a  reaction  was 
inevitable,  and  this  reaction  has  developed  a  new  policy, 
one  which  declares  that  ''land  should  be  used  for  that 
purpose  to  which  it  is  best  fitted,  and  it  should  be  disposed 
of  by  the  Government  with  respect  to  that  use." 

Secretary  Lane  says  that  the  largest  body  of  unused 
and  neglected  land  in  the  United  States  is  in  Alaska,  and 
adds  that  it  now  is  nearly  half  a  century  since  we  pur- 
chased this  territory,  and  although  with  a  white  popula- 
tion of  less  than  40,000,  and  without  having  received  more 
than  casual  concern  from  the  Government,  its  mines,  fish- 
eries and  furs  alone  have  added  to  our  wealth  the  splendid 
sum  of  ^.500,000,000.  ''For  almost  a  generation,"  he  says, 
"it  was  the  rich  harvest  field  of  a  single  company.  Indi- 
vidual fortunes  have  been  made  in  that  country  larger  than 
the  price  paid  to  Russia  for  the  whole  territory.  How 
rich  its  waters  are  we  know,  because  they  have  been 
proved,  but  how  rich  its  lands  are  in  gold  and  copper,  coal 
and  oil,  iron  and  zinc,  no  one  knows.  The  prospector  has 
gone  far  enough,  however,  to  tell  us  that  no  other  section 
of  our  land  today  makes  so  rich  a  mineral  promise. 

"And  in  agriculture  the  government  itself  has  demon- 
strated that  it  will  produce  in  abundance  all  that  can 
be  raised  in  the  Scandinavian  countries,  the  hardy  cereals 
and  vegetables,  the  meats  and  berries  on  which  nine 
million  people  live  in  Norway,  Sweden  and  Finland,  It 
has  been  estimated  that  there  are  50,000,000  acres  of  this 


SOLVING  THE  TRANSPORTATION  PROBLEM  157 

land  that  will  make  homes  for  a  people  as  sturdy  as  those 
of  New  England. 

^'This  vast  asset  lies  almost  undeveloped.  A  territory 
one-fifth  the  size  of  the  United  States  contains  less  than  a 
thousand  miles  of  anything  that  can  be  called  a  wagon 
road.  It  has  a  few  inconsiderable  stretches  of  railroad 
which  terminate,  with  one  exception,  either  in  the  wilder- 
ness or  at  a  private  industry.  Only  the  richest  of  its 
mines  can  be  worked,  and  one  of  its  resources  of  greatest 
immediate  value  to  the  people,  its  coal  lands,  lies  un- 
worked. 

"Why  has  not  this  land  been  developed?  The  frank 
answer  is  that  we  did  not  realize,  until  within  a  few  years, 
that  it  was  worth  developing.  As  soon  as  we  discovered 
its  value  as  a  national  asset,  we  became  alarmed  and 
drew  back,  affrighted  at  the  thought  that  we  might  lose 
it,  or  at  least  that  it  would  become  the  property  of  those 
who  would  exploit  it  without  respect  to  the  public  interest. 
Since  then  we  have  been  waiting  to  make  up  our  minds 
as  to  what  wisely  could  be  done.  *  *  *  g^t  now,  after 
a  long  pause,  it  would  seem  to  be  the  sense  of  the  people 
that  we  shall  proceed  at  once  and  in  a  large  way  to  deal 
with  the  problem  of  Alaskan  development." 

And  Mr.  Lane  grandly  submitted  his  recommendations 
as  to  what  should  be  done,  thus:  ''We  have  withdrawn 
Alaska  from  the  too  aggressive  and  self-serving  exploiter. 
What  have  we  to  substitute  as  a  safer  servant  of  public 
interest?  To  this  question  I  have  given  much  thought,  and 
my  conclusion  is  that  if  we  are  to  bring  Alaska  into  the 
early  and  full  realization  of  her  possibilities,  we  must  cre- 
ate a  new  piece  of  governmental  machinery  for  the  purpose. 
We  should  undertake  the  work  in  the  spirit  and  after  the 
method  of  a  great  corporation  wishing  to  develop  a  large 
territory. 

"In  my  judgment,  the  way  to  deal  with  the  problem 
of  Alaskan  resources  is  to  establish  a  board  of  directors 
to  have  this  work  in  charge.     Into  the  hands  of  this  board. 


158  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

or  commission,  I  would  give  all  the  assets  in  the  Territory, 
to  be  used  primarily  for  her  improvement — her  lands,  fish- 
eries, Indians,  Eskimos,  seals,  forests,  mines,  waterways, 
railroads — all  that  the  Nation  owns,  cares  for,  or  regulates. 
Congress  should  determine,  in  broad  outline,  the  policies 
which  this  board,  in  a  liberal  discretion,  should  elaborate 
and  administer,  much  as  is  done  as  to  the  Philippines. 
This  board  would,  of  course,  have  nothing  whatever  to  do 
with  the  internal  affairs  of  the  organized  Territory  of 
Alaska,  for  it  would  exercise  no  powers  save  such  as  Con- 
gress granted  over  the  property  of  the  United  States  in 
Alaska." 

On  the  transportation  problem,  Mr.  Lane  says:  ''I 
have  already  expressed  to  Congress  my  belief  that  it  was 
wise  for  the  government  itself  to  undertake  the  construc- 
tion and  operation  of  a  system  of  trunk-line  railroads  in 
Alaska.  *  *  *  xhe  rates  and  the  service  of  such  rail- 
roads should  be  fixed  with  reference  to  Alaskan  develop- 
ment— not  with  regard  to  immediate  returns.  The  charges 
fixed  should  be  lower  for  years  to  come  than  would  justify 
private  investment." 


It  is  plain  from  the  foregoing  statements  of  Secretary 
Lane  that  a  campaign  of  education  as  to  the  needs  of 
Alaska  already  was  bearing  rich  fruit,  even  before  the 
close  of  1913,  and  this  is  further  emphasized  by  the  mes- 
sage of  President  Wilson  to  the  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  delivered  on  December  2,  1913,  in  which  the  keynote 
of  a  New  Alaskan  Period  was  sounded.  In  this  message 
he  said : 

''A  duty  faces  us  with  regard  to  Alaska  which  seems  to 
me  very  pressing  and  very  imperative;  perhaps  I  should 
say  a  double  duty,  for  it  concerns  both  the  political  and  the 
material  development  of  the  Territory.  The  people  of 
Alaska  should  be  given  the  full  Territorial  form  of  gov- 
ernment, and  Alaska,  as  a  storehouse,  should  be  unlocked. 


SOLVING  THE  TRANSPORTATION  PROBLEM  159 

One  key  to  it  is  a  system  of  railways.  These  the  Govern- 
ment should  itself  build  and  administer,  and  the  ports  and 
terminals  it  should  itself  control  in  the  interest  of  all  who 
wish  to  use  them  for  the  service  and  development  of  the 
country  and  its  people. 

''But  the  construction  of  railways  is  only  the  first 
step ;  is  only  thrusting  in  the  key  to  the  storehouse  and 
throwing  back  the  lock  and  opening  the  door.  How  the 
tempting  resources  of  the  country  are  to  be  exploited  is 
another  matter,  to  which  I  shall  take  the  liberty  of  from 
time  to  time  calling  your  attention,  for  it  is  a  policy  which 
must  be  worked  out  b}'  well-considered  stages,  not  upon 
theory,  but  upon  lines  of  practical  expediency.  It  is  a  part 
of  our  general  problem  of  conservation.  We  have  a  freer 
hand  in  working  out  the  problem  in  Alaska  than  in  the 
States  of  the  Union ;  and  yet  the  principle  and  object  are 
the  same,  wherever  we  touch  it.  \\e  must  use  the  re- 
sources of  the  country,  not  lock  them  up.  There  need  be  no 
conflict  or  jealousy  as  between  State  and  Federal  authori- 
ties, for  there  can  be  no  essential  difference  of  purpose 
between  them. 

"The  resources  in  question  must  be  used,  but  not  de- 
stroyed or  wasted ;  used,  but  not  monopolized  upon  any 
narrow  idea  of  individual  rights  as  against  the  abiding 
interests  of  communities.  That  a  policy  can  be  worked 
out  by  conference  and  concession  which  will  release  these 
resources  and  yet  not  jeopard  or  dissipate  them,  I,  for 
one,  have  no  doubt;  and  it  can  be  done  on  lines  of  regula- 
tion which  need  be  no  less  acceptable  to  the  people  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  Nation  at  large,  whose  heritage  these  re- 
sources are.  We  must  bend  our  counsels  to  this  end.  A 
common  purpose  ought  to  make  agreement  easy." 


This  campaign  of  education  concerning  the  great  nat- 
ural resources  of  Alaska,  and  the  as  natural  requirements 
for  the  speedy  development  of  the  country,  constitutes  an 


160  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

important  lesson  in  economic  advancement — one  of  such 
great  potentiality  as  to  fully  justify  a  somewhat  lengthy 
account  of  it,  which  is  given  in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION. 


Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  Establishes  a  School  on 
Alaskan  Resources  at  the  National  Capital — A 
Signal  Victory  for  Alaska — The  Famous  Railway 
Law  of  1914 — The  Beginning  of  a  New  Era. 


NOTHING  could  well  be  more  in  harmony  with  natural 
evolution  than  that  the  energies  of  the  people  of  Se- 
attle should  be  extended  to  supplement  the  forces  of 
the  pioneers  of  Alaska  in  their  efforts  to  obtain  better  trans- 
portation facilities.  This  feature  of  potential  relationship 
had  characterized  the  development  of  the  new  Territory 
from  the  start,  but  it  took  new  form  in  1912,  and  assumed 
a  still  more  formidable  aspect  at  the  close  of  1913  and  the 
beginning  of  1914. 

About  the  time  the  Railroad  Commission  was  ap- 
pointed, in  which  movement  the  people  of  Seattle  took  a 
leading  part,  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  began 
organizing  for  a  campaign  of  education  among  the  people 
of  the  nation,  concerning  the  great  value  of  Alaska  re- 
sources. To  this  end  it  was  determined  to  organize  a 
Seattle-Alaska-Bureau,  as  an  adjunct  to  the  Chamber,  and 
under  its  immediate  control,  with  a  full  and  attractive  ex- 
hibit of  the  products  and  resources  of  the  new  Northland; 
and,  further,  to  emphasize  this  exhibit  with  a  program  of 
Alaska  literature  distribution.  This  undertaking  proved 
to  be  a  wise  one.  The  sequel  shows  that  this  organization 
and  candid  educational  enterprise  has  achieved  more  for 

(161) 


Si'-,  n. 


162  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

the  i>roinotion  of  the  interests  of  Alaska  than  probably  all 
other  agencies  combined  in  that  behalf. 

Seattle  had  more  than  doubled  its  population  and  its 
industrial  and  commercial  importance  since  the  opening  of 
Alaska  by  the  discovery  and  development  of  its  rich  gold 
deposits  in  1897-8,  and  its  public  spirited  citizens  realized 
that  its  future  very  largely  depended  upon  the  growth  of 
the  more  northern  country.  Being  situated  in  the  position 
of  the  (iateway  to  Alaska  for  the  outside  world,  the  Puget 
Sound  metropolis  naturally  was  first  to  acquire  a  correct 
knowledge  of  the  greatness  of  Alaskan  resources,  and  to 
reach  an  understanding  that  the  development  of  these 
natural  riches  and  commercial  advantages  would  become 
the  source  of  great  increase  of  national  wealth,  as  well  as 
the  advancement  of  its  own  status. 

Hence,  it  is  easy  to  see  what  the  material  motive  was 
which  impelled  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  to  under- 
take the  great  educational  campaign,  on  behalf  of  Alaska, 
in  1913-14.  The  Eailroad  Commission  had  done  its  work, 
as  we  have  seen,  and  now  important  congressional  legisla- 
tion must  be  secured  if  this  achievement  was  to  count  for 
anything  in  the  way  of  actual  progress  in  obtaining  more 
serviceable  transportation  facilities  for  Alaska.  It  was 
well  known  that  the  needed  legislation  here  referred  to,  if 
obtained  at  all,  would  have  to  be  secured  over  the  some- 
what general  prejudice  of  the  Congressmen  and  United 
States  Senators  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  country.  This 
prejudice  had  become  deep-seated,  and  somewhat  firmly 
rested  upon  a  general  ignorance  of  the  real  value  of  Alaska, 
and  upon  private  interests  of  the  East  which  the  develop- 
ment and  marketing  of  Alaskan  resources  might  impair. 

The  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  quickly  decided  to 
take  the  splendid  exhibit  of  the  Alaskan  Bureau  to  the 
National  Capital,  and  there  to  set  it  up  in  proper  quarters 
to  function  as  an  educational  institution  for  the  enlighten- 
ment of  Congress,  and,  incidentally,  of  the  people  of  the 
United  States  concerning  the  nation's  northern  Wonderland. 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION  163 

Many  people  were  not  a  little  astonished  when  it  was  dis- 
covered that  this  Alaska  Exhibit,  manned  by  able  expo- 
nents of  the  work  in  hand,  had  been  given  a  prominent 
place  in  the  Senate  oflSce  building  of  the  National  Capital. 

The  museum  proved  to  be  the  one  thing  needful  at 
the  Nation's  capital  city.  It  was  a  splendid  supplement 
to  the  literature  of  the  bureau  and  was  ably  utilized  as 
an  educational  force  by  a  staff  of  workers,  including  J.  L. 
McPherson,  secretary  of  the  bureau ;  Charles  G.  Heifner, 
Maurice  D.  Leehey,  Will  H,  Parry,  Falcon  Joslin,  William 
Pigott,  John  P.  Hartman  and  others.  The  institution  at 
once  commanded  a  distinguished  patronage.  "The  Presi- 
dent called  and  lingered  over  the  displays.  The  daily  lec- 
tures were  given  to  Representatives  and  Senators  who  had 
come  to  learn  what  Alaska  was  really  like.  Every  fact 
they  found  backed  up  by  governmental  authority,  and  be- 
fore their  eyes  were  specimens  brought  from  Alaska  to 
prove  that  this  is  no  Territory  of  ice  and  snow,  but  a  won- 
derland of  resources  waiting  only  the  facilities  of  trans- 
portation to  enrich  the  country  to  which  it  belongs. 

"As  an  example  of  the  appreciation  of  this  op])ortu- 
nity  to  learn  about  Alaska,  Clay  Tallman,  head  of  the  land 
office,  arranged  to  send  land  office  employes  in  groups  of 
thirty  a  day  to  hear  the  lectures  and  visit  the  museum. 

"In  three  months  the  museum  accomplished  its  pur- 
pose. Better  than  any  single  effort  it  had  dispelled  the 
popular  misconception  of  Alaska.  To  the  men  whose  as- 
sistance was  needed  it  had  demonstrated  that  in  the 
North  was  a  Territory  deserving  a  railroad  and  federal 
interest,  promising  rich  dividends  on  governmental  friend- 
ship. The  huge  King  salmon,  the  raspberries  and  the 
strawberries,  the  grains  and  grasses  were  i)ackod  up 
again  and  sent  back  to  their  home  in  Seattle  willi  a  -rood 
work  to  their  credit. 

"Better  than  any  amount  of  literature  or  word  of 
mouth    description    of   Alaska   was    a   visit    to    lliis    lit! In 


164  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

museum  of  the  Alaska  Bureau.  To  see  was  to  believe. 
To  describe  it  is  to  enter  into  the  agricultural  and  min- 
eral history  of  the  country." 

Speaking  of  this  successful  campaign,  Capt.  K.  H. 
Stretch  said:  ^'To  reach  the  people  at  large  other  means 
were  necessary.  For  this  purpose  the  pertinent  facts  in 
its  library  of  150  volumes  were  condensed  into  a  ninety- 
page  illustrated  pamphlet  entitled  'Alaska,  our  Frontier 
Wonderland,'  of  which  15,000  copies  have  gone  into  circula- 
tion since  June,  1913,  through  the  United  States  and  as  far 
east  as  London,  Belgium  and  Russia.  Every  member  of 
Congress  and  the  press  gallery  of  both  houses,  as  well  as 
public  libraries  and  2,700  of  the  principal  newspapers  in 
the  United  States,  were  supplied  with  copies  during  the 
past  winter,  while  the  daily  demand  both  personally  and 
by  letter  shows  how  thoroughly  it  has  permeated  every 
corner  of  the  United  States." 


Thus,  more  than  two  years  of  educational  agitation 
resulted  in  a  splendid  victory  for  Alaskan  transportation 
interests,  when  President  Wilson  appended  his  signature 
to  the  Alaska  Railway  Bill  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon 
of  Thursday,  March  12,  1914. 

Thus,  the  history  of  the  bill,  if  written  in  all  its 
aspects,  would  of  itself  constitute  a  volume  of  consider- 
able size,  and  a  most  instructive  chapter  in  the  evolution 
of  human  progress.  This  idea  gives  rise  to  the  other  of 
the  history  of  Alaska  as  a  whole,  which  has  been  sugges- 
tively epitomized  by  the  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer  in  the 
following  form : 

1728 — Discovered  by  Vitus  Bering,  Danish  navigator 

in  Russian  service. 
1784 — Russians  made  permanent  settlement  on  Kodiak 

Island. 
1867 — Purchased   from   Russia  by   United   States   for 

$7,200,000. 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION  165 

1884 — District  government  created. 
1897 — Gold  discovered  in  Klondike. 
1898— Construction  on  White  Pass  and  Yukon  Rail- 
way commenced. 

1903— Government  coaling  station  established  at 
Dutch  Harbor. 

1904 — Alaska  Road  Commission  created. 

1906 — Commission  surveys  road  route  from  Fairbanks 
to  Nome. 

1911 — Made  a  Territory  and  Given  Territorial  Govern- 
ment. 

1912 — Alaska  Railroad  Commission  appointed. 

1913 — Alaska  Railroad  Bill  introduced  in  Senate  July 
2.     Introduced  in  House  in  November. 

1914 — Bill  passed  Senate  January  24.  Passed  House 
on  February  18.  Amended  Bill  passed  by  Senate 
on  March  10.  President  Wilson  afHxes  signature 
March  12. 

Thus,  a  most  important  bill  became  the  law  of  the 
land.  It  ranks  next  in  pioneer  importance  to  the  North- 
west "Ordinance  of  1787,"  but  this  will  not  immediately 
become  apparent.  In  a  very  few  years,  however,  this 
initial  transportation  measure  will  have  developed  a 
Transformed  Alaska,  in  such  a  way  as  greatly  to  enlarge 
the  importance,  material  wealth,  and  commercial  standing 
of  the  United  States.  Neither  those  having  immediate 
charge  of  this  legislation,  nor  the  Alaskans,  themselves, 
who,  with  their  friends,  exerted  their  utmost  endeavors 
to  assist  them,  yet  realize  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
accomplished. 

This  Alaska  Railway  Law  is  the  advance  measure  of 
national  legislation,  which  being  followed  by  other  enact- 
ments for  which  it  at  once  will  create  a  demand,  will 
multiply,  in  many  ways,  the  |35,000,000  made  available  for 
the  development  of  transportation  in  Alaska,  to  more  than 
as  many  hundred  millions  for  similar  purposes.     It  is  the 


166  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

beginniug  of  a  new  era  of  progress  and  prosperity  in  what 
we  call  the  far  Northwest.  As  such,  its  functions  can  not 
be  overestimated. 

Such  a  measure  is  worthy  a  place  large  enough  to 
present  it  in  full  in  this  volume,  and  this  place  here 
follows : 

An  Act  to  Authorize  the  President  of  the  United  States  to  Locate, 

Construct,  and  Operate  Railroads  in  the  Territory  of 

Alaska,  and  for  Other  Purposes. 

"Be  it  enacted  hy  the  Senate  and  House  of  Represent- 
atives of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  as- 
sembled, That  the  President  of  the  United  States  is  hereby 
empowered,  authorized,  and  directed  to  adopt  and  use  a 
name  by  which  to  designate  the  railroad  or  railroads  and 
properties  to  be  located,  owned,  acquired,  or  operated  under 
the  authority  of  this  act;  to  employ  such  officers,  agents, 
or  agencies,  in  his  discretion,  as  may  be  necessary  to  enable 
him  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act;  to  authorize 
and  require  such  officers,  agents,  or  agencies  to  perform 
any  or  all  of  the  duties  imposed  upon  him  by  the  terms 
of  this  act;  to  detail  and  require  any  officer  or  officers  in 
the  Engineer  Corps  in  the  Army  or  Navy  to  perform 
service  under  this  act;  to  fix  the  compensation  of  all 
officers,  agents,  or  employees  appointed  or  designated  by 
him ;  to  designate  and  cause  to  be  located  a  route  or  routes 
for  a  line  or  lines  of  railroad  in  the  Territory  of  Alaska 
not  to  exceed  in  the  aggregate  one  thousand  miles,  to  be 
so  located  as  to  connect  one  or  more  of  the  open  Pacific 
Ocean  harbors  on  the  southern  coast  of  Alaska  with  the 
navigable  waters  in  the  interior  of  Alaska,  and  with  a 
coal  field  or  fields  so  as  best  to  aid  in  the  development  of 
the  agricultural  and  mineral  or  other  resources  of  Alaska, 
and  the  settlement  of  the  public  lands  therein,  and  so  as 
to  provide  transportation  of  coal  for  the  Army  and  Navy, 
transportation  of  troops,  arms,  munitions  of  war,  the 
mails,  and   for  other  governmental  and  public   uses,   and 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION  167 

for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  property;  to  con- 
struct and  build  a  railroad  or  railroads  along  such  route 
or  routes  as  he  may  so  designate  and  locate,  with  the  nec- 
essary branch  lines,  feeders,  sidings,  switches,  and  spurs; 
to  purchase  or  otherwise  acquire  all  real  and  personal 
property  necessary  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  this  act; 
to  exercise  the  power  of  eminent  domain  in  acquiring  prop- 
erty for  such  use,  which  use  is  hereby  declared  to  be  a 
public  use,  by  condemnation  in  the  courts  of  Alaska  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  now  or  hereafter  in  force  there; 
to  acquire  rights  of  way,  terminal  grounds,  and  all  other 
rights ;  to  purchase  or  otherwise  acquire  all  necessary  equip- 
ment for  the  construction  and  operation  of  such  railroad 
or  railroads;  to  build  or  otherwise  acquire  docks,  wharves, 
terminal  facilities,  and  all  structures  needed  for  the 
equipment  and  operation  of  such  railroad  or  railroads; 
to  fix,  change,  or  modify  rates  for  the  transportation  of 
passengers  and  property,  which  rates  shall  be  equal  and 
uniform,  but  no  free  transportation  or  passes  shall  be 
permitted  except  that  the  provisions  of  the  interstate 
commerce  laws  relating  to  the  transportation  of  employees 
and  their  families  shall  be  in  force  as  to  the  lines  con- 
structed under  this  act;  to  receive  compensation  for  the 
transportation  of  passengers  and  property,  and  to  perform 
generally  all  the  usual  duties  of  a  common  carrier  by 
railroad ;  to  make  and  establish  rules  and  regulations  for 
the  control  and  operation  of  said  railroad  or  railroads; 
in  his  discretion,  to  lease  the  said  railroad  or  railroads,  or 
any  portion  thereof,  including  telegraph  and  telei)hone  lines, 
after  completion  under  such  terms  as  he  may  deem  proper, 
but  no  lease  shall  be  for  a  longer  period  than  twenty  years, 
or  in  the  event  of  failure  to  lease,  to  opei-ate  the  same 
until  the  further  action  of  Congress:  Provided,  That  if  said 
railroad  or  railroads,  including  telegra[)h  and  telephone 
lines,  are  leased  under  the  authority  herein  given,  then  and 
in  that  event  they  shall  be  operated  under  the  jurisdiction 
and  control  of  the  provisions  of  the  interstate  commerce 


168  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

laws;  to  purchase,  condemn,  or  otherwise  acquire  upon 
such  terms  as  he  may  deem  proper  any  other  line  or  lines 
of  railroad  in  Alaska  which  may  be  necessary  to  complete 
the  construction  of  the  line  or  lines  of  railroad  designated 
or  located  by  him:  Provided,  That  the  price  to  be  paid 
in  case  of  purchase  shall  in  no  case  exceed  the  actual 
physical  value  of  the  railroad;  to  make  contracts  or  agree- 
ments with  any  railroad  or  steamship  company  or  vessel 
owner  for  joint  transportation  of  passengers  or  property 
over  the  road  or  roads  herein  provided  for,  and  such  rail- 
road or  steamship  line  or  by  such  vessel,  and  to  make  such 
other  contracts  as  may  be  necessary  to  carry  out  any  of 
the  purposes  of  this  act;  to  utilize  in  carrying  on  the  work 
herein  provided  for  any  and  all  machinery,  equipment, 
instruments,  material,  and  other  property  of  any  sort  what- 
soever used  or  acquired  in  connection  with  the  construction 
of  the  Panama  Canal,  so  far  and  as  rapidly  as  the  same 
is  no  longer  needed  at  Panama,  and  the  Isthmian  Canal 
Commission  is  hereby  authorized  to  deliver  said  property 
to  such  officers  or  persons  as  the  President  may  designate, 
and  to  take  credit  therefor  at  such  percentage  of  its  original 
cost  as  the  President  may  approve,  but  this  amount  shall 
not  be  charged  against  the  fund  provided  for  in  this  act. 

"The  authority  herein  granted  shall  include  the  power 
to  construct,  maintain,  and  operate  telegraph  and  telephone 
lines  so  far  as  they  may  be  necessary  or  convenient  in  the 
construction  and  operation  of  the  railroad  or  railroads 
as  herein  authorized  and  they  shall  perform  generally  all 
the  usual  duties  of  telegraph  and  telephone  lines  for  hire. 

"That  it  is  the  intent  and  purpose  of  Congress  through 
this  act  to  authorize  and  empower  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  and  he  is  hereby  fully  authorized  and  era- 
powered,  through  such  officers,  agents,  or  agencies  as  he 
may  appoint  or  employ,  to  do  all  necessary  acts  and  things 
in  addition  to  those  specially  authorized  in  this  act  to 
enable  him  to  accomplish  the  purposes  and  objects  of  this 
act. 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION  169 

"The  President  is  hereby  authorized  to  withdraw,  lo- 
cate, and  dispose  of,  under  such  rules  and  regulations  as 
he  may  prescribe,  such  area  or  areas  of  the  public  domain 
along  the  line  or  lines  of  such  proposed  railroad  or  rail- 
roads for  townsite  purposes  as  he  may  from  time  to  time 
designate. 

"Terminal  and  station  grounds  and  rights  of  way 
through  the  lands  of  the  United  States  in  the  Territory  of 
Alaska  are  hereby  granted  for  the  construction  of  rail- 
roads, telegraph  and  telephone  lines  authorized  by  this 
act,  and  in  all  patents  for  lands  hereafter  taken  up, 
entered  or  located  in  the  Territory  of  Alaska  there  shall 
be  expressed  that  there  is  reserved  to  the  United  States 
a  right  of  way  for  the  construction  of  railroads,  telegraph 
and  telephone  lines  to  the  extent  of  one  hundred  feet  on 
either  side  of  the  center  line  of  any  such  road  and  twenty- 
five  feet  on  either  side  of  the  center  line  of  any  such 
telegraph  or  telephone  lines,  and  the  President  may,  in 
such  manner  as  he  deems  advisable,  make  reservation  of 
such  lands  as  are  or  may  be  useful  for  furnishing  materials 
for  construction  and  for  stations,  terminals,  docks,  and  for 
such  other  purposes  in  connection  with  the  construction 
and  operation  of  such  railroad  lines  as  he  may  deem 
necessary  and  desirable. 

"Sec.  2.  That  the  cost  of  the  work  authorized  by  this 
act  shall  not  exceed  |35,000,000,  and  in  executing  the 
authority  granted  by  this  act  the  President  shall  not  ex- 
pend nor  obligate  the  United  States  to  expend  more  than 
the  said  sum ;  and  there  is  hereby  appropriated,  out  of  any 
money  in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated,  the 
sum  of  11,000,000  to  be  used  for  carrying  out  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  to  continue  available  until  expended. 

"Sec.  3.  That  all  moneys  derived  from  the  lease,  sale, 
or  disposal  of  any  of  the  public  lands,  including  townsites, 
in  Alaska,  or  the  coal  or  mineral  therein  contained,  or 
the  timber  thereon,  and  the  earnings  of  said  railroad  or 
railroads,  together  with  the  earnings  of  the  telegraph  and 


170  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

telephone  lines  constructed  under  this  act,  above  main- 
tenance charges  and  operating  expenses,  shall  be  paid  into 
the  treasury  of  the  United  States  as  other  miscellaneous 
receipts  are  paid,  and  a  separate  account  thereof  shall 
be  kept  and  annually  reported  to  Congress. 

"Sec.  4.  That  the  officers,  agents,  or  agencies  jjlaced 
in  charge  of  the  work  by  the  President  shall  make  to  the 
President  annually,  and  at  such  other  periods  as  may  be 
required  by  the  President  or  by  either  House  of  Congress, 
full  and  complete  reports  of  all  their  acts  and  doings  and 
of  all  moneys  received  and  expended  in  the  construction 
of  said  work  and  in  the  operation  of  said  work  or  works 
and  in  the  performance  of  their  duties  in  connection  there- 
with. The  annual  reports  herein  provided  for  shall  be  by 
the   President   transmitted   to    Congress. 

"Approved,  March  12,  1914." 


Among  the  measures  of  national  legislation  for  the 
promotion  of  Alaska  development  which  were  being  ad- 
vanced in  both  houses  of  Congress,  as  the  first  edition 
of  this  volume  goes  to  press,  is  the  Alaska  Coal  Land 
Leasing  Bill.  This  measure  was  introduced  in  the  House 
by  Congressman  Ferris  of  Oklahoma,  and  in  the  Senate 
by  Senator  Walsh  of  Montana.  Both  bills  were  understood 
to  be  administration  measures.  This  legislation,  if  enacted, 
will  provide  '"for  the  survey  of  the  coal  lands  of  Alaska; 
the  reservation  for  the  use  of  the  national  government  of 
5,120  acres  of  coal  land  in  the  Bering  Kiver  field;  and 
7,780  acres  in  the  Matanuska  coal  field;  leasing  for  an 
indeterminate  period  to  individuals  or  corporations,  under 
such  rules  and  regulations  as  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior 
may  provide,  tracts  not  exceeding  2,560  acres  to  any  one 
concern,  on  a  minimum  royalty  of  2  cents  per  ton,  but  each 
tract  to  be  let  to  the  highest  bidder  with  a  small  annual 
rental  beginning  with  25  cents  and  increasing  to  a  maxi- 
mum of  11.00  per  acre  per  annum,  this  annual  rental  to 


WONDERFUL  CAMPAIGN  OF  EDUCATION  171 

apply  on  royalty  for  each  particular  year,  which  means 
that  the  per  acre  charge  is  merely  a  penalty  for  holding 
without  working  the  same.  It  also  provides  granting  per- 
mission to  individuals  to  mine,  without  charge,  for  their 
own  use,  coal  on  small  tracts  at  the  discretion  of  the 
Secretary." 

The  bill  also  contains  provisions  for  preventing  com- 
binations to  control  selling  prices;  royalties  to  be  adjusted 
at  the  end  of  each  twenty  year  period. 

This  bill  is  intended  to  promote  development  of  the 
coal  mining  industry,  insure  competition,  prevent  monopoly 
and  thus  encourage  the  development  of  the  many  industries 
of  Alaska  by  supplying  fuel  at  the  lowest  cost  to  the  ulti- 
mate consumer. 

Other  important  measures  to  facilitate  the  develop- 
ment of  Alaska  are  now,  June  15,  1914,  in  progress  in 
the  Congress,  and  some  of  these,  together  with  the  gen- 
eral program  of  the  National  Government  are  referred 
to  in  later  chapters  of  this  effort.  It  is  noted  that 
national  legislation  on  behalf  of  Alaska,  at  the  date 
mentioned  was  in  the  making,  having  been  slightly  de- 
layed by  the  ''near  war"  troubles  between  this  country 
and  Mexico. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


CELEBRATING   THE   RAILWAY  VICTORY. 


Rejoicings  in  the  Pacific  West  Over  the  Passage  of  the 
Government  Railway  Law — Expressions  of  Approval 
BY  THE  Railway  and  Marine  News;  J.  E,  Chilberg^ 
President  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  and 
Other  Leading  Business  Men — Series  of  Celebra- 
tions— Short  History  of  the  Bill. 


NATURALLY  so  great  a  beginning  in  the  new  de- 
velopment of  Alaska  as  the  passage  of  the  Railway 
Bill  by  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  especially 
as  the  Territory  had  been  tied  up  in  various  ways  for  sev- 
eral years,  by  the  need  of  transportation  facilities  and  a 
more  liberal  coal  land  policy,  was  calculated  to  inspire 
new  hopes  among  the  people  of  the  Pacific  Northwest.  The 
event  was  reasonably  the  occasion  for  widespread  demon- 
strations of  approval,  not  only  among  the  people  of  Alaska, 
who  had  patiently  and  impatiently  waited  so  long  for  re- 
lief, but  by  the  citizens  of  the  whole  Pacific  Coast. 

As  noted  elsewhere,  Seattle  had  been  transformed 
from  a  small  to  a  great  city,  since  1897,  or  since  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  Alaska,  through  the  force  of  which  its 
various  other  marvelous  resources  became  known  to  the 
world.  Seattle,  as  all  well  know,  is  the  chief  objective  port 
from  which  the  far  greater  part  of  Alaskan  products  must 
find  distribution.  Because  this  is  true,  the  city  has  more 
than  doubled  its  population  and  commercial  importance 
since  the  New  Alaska  of  1898  began  to  grow  in  potential 
value  in  the  knowledge  of  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

(172) 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  173 

The  bill  already  had  become  famous  when  it  reached 
a  stage  of  progress  which  left  little  doubt  of  its  passage. 
This  was  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  a  small  army  of 
Alaska  and  Seattle  business  men  had  camped  at  the 
National  Capital  for  months  to  boost  for  the  measure. 
At  first,  as  noted  elsewhere,  the  measure  met  with  much 
opposition,  but  the  giants  arrayed  on  its  behalf  battered 
down  the  opposing  forces,  and  by  sound,  peaceful,  loyal 
arguments  convinced  Congress  of  the  righteousness  of 
their  cause.  The  President  and  his  Cabinet  already  had 
been  convinced  of  the  wisdom  of  the  legislation  here  under 
consideration. 

The  potential  and  immediate  value  of  the  legislation 
thus  secured,  taken  into  consideration  with  the  heroic, 
self-sacrificing  campaign  by  which  it  was  obtained,  created 
a  reasonable  demand  that  the  achievement  should  be  heart- 
ily celebrated. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  victory,  the  Railway  and  Marine 
News  of  Seattle  said:  ''The  passage  of  the  Alaska  Rail- 
way Bill  in  each  branch  of  Congress  has  brought  forth 
universal  approval  throughout  the  Pacific  Northwest  and 
Alaska.  In  the  Northern  Territory  celebrations  were  held 
at  various  points.  The  first  news  came  by  the  Associated 
Press,  which  courteously  telephoned  prominent  commercial 
bodies  and  others.  Immediately  upon  its  receipt  by  Rail- 
way and  Marine  News,  the  general  office  of  the  Marconi 
Wireless  Telegraph  was  communicated  with  and  the  mana- 
ger flashed  the  good  news  to  all  the  ships  and  shore  stations 
throughout  the  North  Pacific  Ocean,  so  that  within  a  slioi-l 
time  of  the  announcement  of  the  passage  of  the  bill  thnmgh 
the  House,  practically  all  the  ships  [dying  between  Piigct 
Sound  and  Alaska  and  all  the  interior  i)oints  had  Ihmmi 
apprised  of  the  news.  Every  one  takes  a  most  hopofnl  and 
optimistic  view  of  the  situation  and  all  classes  of  iKM)|.Ie 
look  for  the  biggest  revival  in  trade  that  has  ever  (a ken 
place  in  the  Northwest  and  a  united  action  with  the  climi 


174  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

nation  of  all  past  differences  and  sectional  feelings.  *  *  * 
Too  niucli  credit  cannot  be  accorded  the  Alaska  Bureau 
of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce,  which  took  the  in- 
itiative and  expended  |32,000  for  the  purpose  of  trans- 
ferring its  Alaska  exhibition  to  Washington  and  carrying 
on  the  splendid  work.  In  this  they  received  the  coopera- 
tion and  endorsement  of  commercial  bodies  on  Puget  Sound 
and  in  Alaska  with  the  result  that  the  bill  was  success- 
fully passed  in  both  houses." 

Following  are  a  very  few  of  the  expressions  from 
men  prominent  in  the  West,  as  to  what  the  passage  of  the 
bill  means  to  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  Northwest: 

Governor  J.  F.  A.  Strong  of  Alaska  said :  "All  Alaska, 
irrespective  of  geographical  divisions,  rejoices  over  the 
passage  of  the  railroad  bill  because  it  indubitably  means 
the  opening  to  development  of  natural  resources  now  inac- 
cessible or  unused,  including  coal  and  agricultural  lands, 
the  cheapening  of  transportation  costs  to  the  great  inte- 
rior country  and  its  development  along  substantial  lines, 
and  marks  generally  the  dawning  of  a  new  industrial  and 
commercial  era  for  which  the  people  of  the  Territory  have 
waited  long  and  patiently. 

"Alaska's  worth  as  a  potential  asset  of  the  Nation  has 
been  established  and  it  now  remains  for  its  people  to  act 
in  unity  that  they  may  enjoy  the  fullest  fruition  of  this 
wise  and  progressive  legislation. 

"Their  thanks  are  due  to  the  loyal  friends  both  in 
and  out  of  Congress  for  the  intelligent  campaign  for  the 
opening  of  the  Territory  to  development  and  the  fair  fight 
made  to  attain  the  desired  end." 

J.  E.  Chilberg,  president  of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  said:  "With  the  enactment  of  the  Alaska  rail- 
road measure  the  shackles  are  being  broken  from  the  pio- 
neers and  resources  of  the  Northland.  The  railroad  itself, 
while  an  enterprise  of  magnitude,  is  merely  leading  the 
way  for  opening  resources,  inviting  settlement,  stimulating 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  175 

productions  and  bringing  to  the  uses  of  the  United  States 
and  the  entire  world  the  greatest  store  of  natural  wealth 
remaining  undeveloped  on  the  American  continent. 

"The  enactment  of  the  Railroad  Bill  is  the  forerunner 
of  other  equally  essential  legislation,  making  possible  the 
settlement  and  development  of  Alaska,  just  as  the  con- 
struction of  the  road  will  lead  to  the  sources  of  natural 
wealth  of  the  Territory.  Much  in  this  direction  remains 
to  be  done  by  Congress,  and  by  the  help  of  President  Wil- 
son's administration,  without  which  it  would  have  been 
impossible  to  secure  the  adoption  of  the  railroad  program. 

"While  no  one  factor  can  claim  the  credit  for  having 
wrought  the  transformation  in  the  affairs  of  Alaska  made 
possible  by  the  attitude  of  the  President  and  of  Congress,  it 
is  a  source  of  profound  gratification  to  me  that  the  efforts 
of  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  have  been  primarily 
responsible  for  inaugurating  a  campaign  coordinating  the 
efforts,  combining  the  energies,  directing  the  influences  and 
assembling  the  sources  of  information  which  have  brought 
about  a  revolution  in  public  sentiment  and  an  understand- 
ing of  the  Northland  by  the  President,  his  Cabinet  and 
the  members  of  Congress." 

Fred  W.  Bert,  Jr.,  president  of  the  Seattle  Commer- 
cial Club,  expressed  himself  in  these  terms:  "Nothing  has 
occurred  since  the  big  gold  rush  to  Alaska  that  means  so 
much  to  that  country  and  Seattle  and  the  Northwest,  as 
the  passage  of  the  Alaska  Railroad  Bill.  How  far  reaching 
its  benefits  will  be  cannot  be  foretold  or  even  estimated. 
We  can,  however,  see  in  the  immediate  future  the  thirty- 
five  millions  the  Government  will  expend  turned  over  nud 
over  in  the  supplies  needed  by  the  people  on  the  job  and 
those  serving  them.  We  can  see  the  immense  coal  beds 
tapped,  starting  a  circulation  of  new  revenues  running  into 
millions.  We  can  see  arable  lands  equal  to  the  area  of 
Denmark  and  Sweden  under  cultivation  and  causing  ex- 
ports and  imports.  We  can  see  all  ninnner  of  miTiin;^ 
pushed    most    agressively    because    of    the    transportation 


176  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

facilities  to  and  from  the  section  admitting  heavy  machin- 
ery to  the  interior  and  improving  living  conditions  gen- 
erally, and  when  the  railroad  taps  the  head  of  navigation 
of  the  Yukon  we  will  practically  have  acquired  a  new  em- 
pire. This  much  we  can  see — beyond  staggers  the  imagina- 
tion.'' 

R.  W.  Baxter,  vice-president  and  general  manager 
Alaska  Steamship  Company  and  the  Copper  River  &  North- 
western Railway,  of  Seattle,  made  the  following  forceful 
remarks  on  the  event:  "I  regard  the  proposed  construc- 
tion of  railroads  in  Alaska  by  the  United  States  Govern- 
ment as  the  most  important  factor  possible  in  relation  to 
the  future  growth  and  prosperity  of  the  Territory.  It  is 
not  necessary  to  here  refer  to  the  long  period  of  stagna- 
tion brought  about  by  lack  of  proper  laws  governing  the 
control  of  the  natural  resources — that  is  a  story  of  the  past 
and  might  well  be  forgotten.  With  the  Government's  de- 
termination to  take  so  important  a  part  in  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Territory,  every  individual  and  every  corporation  is 
heartily  in  accord  with  the  outlined  program  of  industrial 
advancement.  For  years  Alaska  has  been  accorded,  by  the 
various  steamship  companies  operating,  a  service  which,  in 
relation  to  the  net  returns,  was  far  in  advance  of  the  in- 
dustrial growth  of  the  country  and  during  the  calendar 
year  1913,  a  period  in  which  the  industries  of  Alaska 
showed  a  decided  loss,  the  steamship  companies  gave  a 
grand  total  of  387  sailings  from  Seattle  to  ports  of  that 
Territory,  some  of  these  sailings  being  marked  by  only 
half  cargo  and  sometimes  less  than  half  a  passenger  list. 
I  merely  bring  this  out  because  those  who  are  unacquainted 
with  conditions  have  overlooked  this  important  factor  and 
have  regarded  Alaska  as  being  almost  entirely  isolated  and 
without  adequate  steamship  service. 

''Railroads  have  been  started  in  the  interior  and 
would  have  been  greatly  extended  had  it  not  been  for  the 
condition  existing  already  referred  to.  The  statement  made 
in  the  East  that  it  will  be  impossible  to  successfully  build 


HON.    JA.MES    WICKERSHAM— CONGRESSIONAL    DIOLKCATE 
FROM  ALASKA 

Photo    copyright    by    Harris    &    Ewing. 


CELEBRATING   THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  177 

and  operate  railroads  in  Alaska,  is  refuted  when  one 
studies  the  Copper  River  &  Northwestern  Railway,  opened 
in  March,  1911,  extending  196  miles  into  the  interior  and 
at  the  present  writing  has  been  successfully  kept  open  and 
operated  through  the  entire  winter  of  1913-1914.  This 
road  has  been  built  to  all  standard  requirements  of  the 
A.  S.  E.  and,  if  in  the  future  its  management  can  offer  any 
encouragement,  advice  or  friendly  aid  to  those  engaged  in 
building  the  Government  railroads  it  will  be  a  pleasure  to 
do  so.  In  co-operation  lies  the  future  success  of  transpor- 
tation facilities  in  Alaska.  The  wholesale  construction  of 
railroads  cannot  possibly  be  regarded  in  any  other  light 
than  the  greatest  boon  to  the  men  who  will  pioneer  that 
country  and  open  up  this  world's  treasure  house  to  the 
miner,  the  lumberman,  the  agriculturist  or  others  working 
in  similar  lines.  There  is  no  competition  or  rivalry  be- 
tween the  existing  transportation  lines  and  any  that  might 
be  built  by  the  United  States  Government.  Alaska  today 
is  at  the  dawn  of  a  new  era  and  every  person  interested 
in  the  advancement  of  that  rich  Territory  is  ready  and 
willing  to  aid  and  cooperate  with  the  Government  in  every 
way  possible." 

In  a  similar  strain,  J.  C.  Ford,  vice-president  and 
general  manager  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Company,  said :  "I 
believe  it  will  require  time  for  us  to  grasp  the  full  sig- 
nificance of  the  benefits  that  will  accrue  to  Alaska  and 
the  Puget  Sound  country  as  a  result  of  the  Government's 
decision  to  open  up  the  district  with  a  railroad. 

'The  first  direct  benefits  will,  of  course,  be  the  exi)en- 
diture  of  forty  million  dollars  by  the  Government,  and  the 
further  amoinits  by  individuals  who  have  been  given  an 
incentive  to  seek  beneficial  investment  by  this  reassuring 
move  of  Uncle  Sam.  Beyond  these  immediate  results  there 
are,  as  we  all  know,  illimitable  possibilities  for  the  employ- 
ment of  labor  and  money  in  the  develo])iiient  of  Alaska's 
general   and   diversified   resources   with   resultant    increase 


12. 


178  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

in  wealth  to  Alaska  and  the  Puget  Sound  country  and,  in 
fact,  the  whole  United   States,  at  least  indirectly. 

''Now  that  the  first  step  has  been  taken,  the  progress 
will,  without  question,  be  rapid  and  continuous  and  the 
future,  I  believe,  will  give  us  a  greater  appreciation  of  the 
moment  of  this  development  than  the  present." 

H.  F.  Alexander,  president  Pacific-Alaska  Navigation 
Company,  made  the  following  significant  remarks:  "An 
opinion  coming  from  one  who  for  a  good  many  years  has 
been  deeply  interested  in  endeavoring  to  offer  best  possible 
transportation  facilities  to  Alaska  might  be  regarded  by 
the  public  as  being  prejudiced.  However,  I  take  a  very 
broad  view  of  this  matter  and  entirely  eliminating  the 
splendid  results  which  must  accrue  to  the  commercial  life 
and  industry  of  Puget  Sound  generally,  I  might  say  of  the 
Pacific  Coast  as  a  whole,  the  construction  of  railroads  in 
the  remote  interior  of  Alaska  will  be  the  making  of  that 
rich  country.  The  Government,  as  I  take  it,  does  not  ex- 
pect to  reap  a  rich  and  immediate  traffic  harvest  from  such 
railroads,  but  it  is  acting  as  an  aid  to  the  general  industrial 
and  mineral  development  of  the  country,  being  willing  to 
lend  its  influence  and  its  unlimited  credit  to  an  enterprise 
which  necessarily  must  for  some  years  be  non-productive. 
That  the  time  will  come  when  it  will  be  productive  there  is 
no  question  and  the  Government  is  certainly  in  a  position 
to  take  a  philanthropic  view  of  the  situation. 

''The  construction  w^ork  on  the  railroad  should  be  a 
boon  to  the  poor  man  who  goes  to  Alaska  as  a  prospector. 
If  he  does  not  make  good  the  first  season — in  the  past  it 
has  been  necessary  for  him  to  come  out  and  once  out,  after 
a  discouraging  season,  it  is  seldom  he  returns.  With  the 
construction  of  the  railroad  and  the  opening  of  the  coal 
mines,  work  will  be  available,  so  should  he  be  unable  to 
make  good  the  first  season  he  can  secure  employment  until 
such  time  as  he  can  again  get  a  grub  stake,  and  once  more 
start  out  in  the  nuest  of  the  hidden  wealth. 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  179 

"Alaska  has  hardly  been  scratched.  It  is  today  the 
most  heavily  mineralized,  unexplored  area  possessed  by  the 
United  States,  and  the  splendid  results  of  its  mines  in  the 
past  will  be  many  times  eclipsed.  During  the  last  decade, 
capital  has  been  timid  about  going  into  Alaska.  Under  the 
new  conditions  this  feeling  of  timidity  will  be  wiped  away 
and  we  will  find  that  ample  capital  will  be  forthcoming 
to  properly  develop  the  natural  resources  known  to  exist 
in  the  interior.  The  prospector  will  be  benefited.  For 
years  his  work  has  been  greatly  hampered  by  lack  of 
transportation.  Even  if  he  located  a  particularly  rich 
mine,  it  was  practically  useless  without  proper  transpor- 
tation facilities.  The  prospector  will  follow  the  railroad 
and  on  either  side  of  the  rails,  these  indefatigable  pioneers 
of  the  West  will  spread  out  in  all  directions  seeking  to 
uncover  new  mineral  ledges  or  placers  and  their  consistent 
exploration  of  the  country  cannot  help  but  bring  future 
traffic  to  the  road  and  help  to  build  up  hamlets  and  in- 
dustrial plants  along  the  route. 

"The  agriculturist  will  be  benefited.  Many  areas  are 
possible  of  cultivation,  but  there  is  no  incentive  to  such  cul- 
tivation without  a  market.  The  prospector,  the  miner,  and 
the  ever  increasing  population  will  provide  the  markets 
and  the  agriculturist  can  profitably  develop  the  soil  in 
some  areas.  The  railroad  work,  opening  of  the  mines,  and 
the  general  policy  of  the  Government  to  develop  the  conn- 
try,  are  all  bound  to  attract  people,  steadily  increasing  the 
population,  through  the  list  of  opportunities  which  are 
known  to  exist  in  Alaska.  It  presents  a  splendid  picture 
of  future  industrial  and  mineral  development,  and  all  in- 
terested should  now  work  unitedly  to  co-operate  with  the 
Government  in  its  splendid  plan  for  the  opening  up  and 
development  of  Alaska." 


Thus,  as  is  seen  from  the  foregoing,  the  great  event 
was  duly  recognized  by  leading  business  men  of  Seattle, 


180  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

and  especially  by  those  directly  interested  in  Alaska  trans- 
j)ortation  enterprise.  I  regret  that  space  is  not  available 
between  these  covers  for  a  more  extended  presentation  of 
these  and  similar  expressions  by  leading  people  of  the  West, 
including  bankers  and  those  representing  other  important 
interests.  Those  given,  however,  express  the  general  feel- 
ing everywhere  manifest  at  the  time.  There  was  not  to  be 
found  a  spark  of  jealousy  among  those  who  already  had 
entered  upon  railroad  enterprises  in  Alaska.  All  alike  ex- 
pressed approval  of  the  great  program  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment in  this  behalf. 


It  is  not  thought  expedient  to  present  here  an  ac- 
count of  the  widely  extended  series  of  celebrations  held  in 
Alaskan  towns  and  cities,  and  in  the  centers  of  population 
on  the  Pacific  Coast,  generally,  chief  among  which  w^as  the 
remarkably  unique  demonstration  held  in  Seattle.  All  these 
were  spontaneous  manifestations  of  pent-up  enthusiasm, 
and,  in  the  nature  of  unbridled  expressions,  in  a  great  vari- 
ety of  forms,  of  joy  and  gladness. 


What  may  be  regarded  as  a  document  of  historic 
value  consists  in  the  joint  telegram  sent  from  Washington, 
D.  C,  to  the  Seattle-Alaska  Bureau,  from  the  chiefs  of  the 
campaign  which  ended  in  victory  for  the  Alaska  railway 
project.     It  follows : 


u 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  181 

^           WASHINGTON,  D.  C.  March  21.— To  the  Alaska  | 

yt  Bureau,  care  Arctic  Club  celebration,  Seattle,  Wash.:  || 

\t  We  send  greetings  and  congratulations  to  those  who  $ 

\t  tonight  are   celebrating  in    Seattle   the  epoch-making  f| 

^j  achievement    accomplished    under    the    splendid    and  f| 

^i  patriotic   leadership   of  President   Wilson   and   Secre-  jj[ 

li  tary  Lane,  aided  by  clear-visioned  and  statesmanlike  '^ 

u   men  in  both  houses  of  Congress,  supplemented  by  the  -J 

j^  efforts  of  the  business  men  of  Seattle  and  Alaska.  'k 

J:           It  has  proved  anew  that  united  Seattle  fighting  !k 

^'  for  a  just  cause  is  irresistible.    Other  important  meas-  |^ 

^>  ures   pending  before  Congress   must  be  enacted   into  f^ 

ft  law  if  Alaska  is  to  have  healthy  and  permanent  de-  K 

^t  velopment.     We  know   that  President   Wilson   is  de-  (jt 

^J  termined    to    duplicate    the    success    of    the    Panama  f| 

li  Canal  construction  in  the  building  of  a  Government  '^ 

yi  railroad  in  Alaska  and  that  he  will  choose  competent  '^ 

j^  men  to  select  the  routes  and  locate  the  lines  and  to  't 

Jj  supervise  the  work.  .^ 

"           Secretary   Lane,   who  knows   the  work,   will    un-  x 

it  doubtedly  be  in  charge  of  the  great  undertaking  and  ^N 

\l  there  probably  will  be  a  board  of  three  eminent  engi-  |R 

w   neers  to  act  under  his  direction.     Col.  Goethals  and  ijl 

£  leading  railroad  builders  have  already  been  consulted  f^ 

vi  as  to  methods  to  be  employed  in  prosecuting  the  work.  )| 

jj           Secretary  Lane  assured  us  today  that  steps  are  'jj^ 

T  now   being  taken   to  carry   out   the   purposes   of   the  '.^ 

}•  Alaska    railroad    act    along    practical    lines    at    the  -k 

earliest  possible  moment,  and  that  he  expects  to  visit  .k 

Alaska  this  summer  for  the  purpose  of  hastening  the  r 

|(i  dawn  of  the  day  of  Justice,  when  Alaska  shall  come  y 
l^   into  her  own. 
^                                              J.  L.  M'PHERSON, 

^  C.  G.   HEIFNER, 

(Signed)  WILL  H.  PARRY, 

T.  P.  M'DONALD, 
FALCON  JOSLTN, 

.,  D.  A.  M'KKXZIK. 


182  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing  the  Alaska  Bureau  of 
Seattle  received  the  following  telegrams  from  Washington, 
D.  C,  on  the  night  of  Seattle's  great  celebration: 

From  Senator  Miles  Poindexter:  "Please  extend  to 
the  people  of  Seattle  on  the  occasion  of  your  Alaska  cele- 
bration tonight  my  congratulations  and  best  wishes.  The 
passage  of  the  Alaska  bill  has  opened  the  door  to  an  em- 
pire, but  without  the  splendid  work  done  by  hustling  busi- 
ness men  of  Seattle  and  the  Northwest  this  door  would 
probably  be  still  closed.  Great  educational  work  done  by 
the  Alaska  bureau  you  maintained  here  will  bear  fruit  far 
beyond  the  mere  building  of  a  railroad." 


From  Representative  W.  E.  Humphrey:  "I  regret  that 
I  cannot  be  present  to  celebrate  the  passage  of  the  Alaska 
railroad  legislation.  A  new  day  has  dawned  for  Alaska. 
Her  future  holds  great  promise.  Seattle  has  had  a  lead- 
ing part  in  making  possible  this  splendid  consummation 
and  she  will  justly  share  in  the  reward." 


From  Representative  J.  W.  Bryan:  "Alaska  Railroad 
Bill  had  more  fairness  and  justice  and  progressiveness 
about  it  than  any  legislation  this  Congress  can  enact.  Be- 
fore many  years  Alaska  will  comprise  three  proud  states 
of  the  Union.  The  President  considers  the  railroad  a  key, 
but  no  one  has  any  conception  of  the  resources  to  be  un- 
locked or  the  marvelous  destiny  that  awaits  Alaska,  I 
share  with  you  tonight  in  your  celebration." 


This  record  would  not  be  complete  without  mention  of 
the  valuable  services  rendered  the  cause  of  Alaska,  by  the 
Seattle  press,  notably  by  the  Post-Intelligencer,  Scott  C. 
Bone,  chief  editor,  and  his  able  staff;  the  Seattle  Daily 
Times,  Colonel  Alden  J.  Blethen,  editor-in-chief,  and  his 
efficient  staff ;  by  the  Star  and  the  Sun,  and  by  the  Seattle 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  Seattle  Commercial  Club,  the 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  183 

Seattle  Arctic  Club,  and  other  commercial  and  social   or- 
ganizations of  the  city. 


A  condensed  history  of  the  Alaska  Railway  Bill  will 
be  of  interest.  The  special  session  of  the  Sixty-third  Con- 
gress met  on  April  7,  1913.  The  Delegate  from  Alaska, 
Hon.  James  Wickersham,  had  prepared  a  railway  bill.  On 
that  date  he  gave  a  copy  of  this  bill  to  Senator  Chamber- 
lain, of  Oregon,  and  requested  him  to  introduce  it  in  the 
Senate,  while  the  Delegate  himself  introduced  it  in  the 
House.  The  Senate  bill  was  No.  48;  the  House  bill  was 
No.  1739.  On  the  same  day  a  different  bill  was  intro- 
duced in  the  Senate  by  Senator  Jones  of  Washington.  The 
Senate  bills  were  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Territories, 
of  which  Senator  Pittman  was  chairman,  while  the  House 
bill  was  referred  to  the  House  Committee  on  Territories,  of 
which  Judge  Houston,  of  Tennessee,  was  chairman. 

Hearings  in  support  and  opposition  were  held  fii-st 
before  the  Senate  Committee  on  Territories.  A  large  num- 
ber of  persons  interested  were  present  and  the  Delegate 
from  Alaska  was  requested  by  the  Senate  Committee  to 
take  charge  of  the  hearings  in  behalf  of  the  Railway  Bill. 
Very  lengthy  hearings  were  had  before  the  Senate  com- 
mittee and  were  printed  in  a  large  volume  for  genei-al  dis- 
tribution. The  Senate  bill  was  reported  favorably  on  June 
17th  to  the  Senate,  where  Senators  Chamberlain,  Jones, 
Pittman,  and  Walsh  took  charge  of  it  and  pressed  it  for 
passage. 

The  House  Committee  on  Territories  took  up  llic  hear- 
ings after  the  Senate  committee  had  finished  and  conducted 
extensive  hearings  upon  the  bill.  It  was  reported  favoi-ably 
by  the  House  Committee  on  Territories  November  2(1,  1913. 

The  Senate  changed  the  original  bill  introduced  by 
Senator  Chamberlain  in  many  respects  though  rot;iiniug 
substantially  the  main  features  of  the  bill  ms  origiTially 
prepared.     The  House  Committee  on   Territories   rcpoilcd 


184  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

the  bill  very  largely  in  the  exact  words  of  the  bill  as  in- 
troduced, though  omitting  therefrom  a  number  of  features 
which  were  thought  to  be  unnecessary.  After  long  argu- 
ment in  the  Senate  the  bill  was  passed  on  Saturday,  Janu- 
ary 24,  1914,  by  a  vote  of  46  to  16. 

The  bill  having  passed  the  Senate  first,  it  was  trans- 
mitted to  the  House  for  action,  and  referred  to  the  House 
Committee  on  Territories.  This  committee  met  and  after 
much  consideration,  by  unanimous  vote  struck  out  of  the 
Senate  bill  all  except  its  number  and  title,  and  inserted  the 
House  bill  as  amended  by  the  House  Committee  on  Terri- 
tories. With  these  corrections  the  Senate  bill  was  reported 
to  the  House,  where  it  passed  on  February  18th  by  a  vote 
of  230  for  and  87  against. 

As  finally  passed  by  the  House,  though  under  the  Sen- 
ate title  and  number,  the  bill  was  the  House  bill  without 
change.  The  bill  was  thereupon  returned  to  the  Senate  and 
a  conference  committee  w^as  appointed  both  by  the  Senate 
and  the  House  to  agree  upon  the  differences  between  the 
bill  as  passed  by  the  Senate  and  the  House.  The  confer- 
ence committee  agreed  to  the  bill  as  passed  by  the  House 
and  thereupon  March  6th  and  March  10th  the  House  and 
Senate  adopted  the  report  of  agreement  of  the  conference 
committee  and  the  bill  was  transmitted  to  and  was  signed 
by  the  President  on  March  12th,  and  became  a  law. 

As  finally  passed  and  approved  by  the  President  the 
bill  contained  generally  the  provisions  of  the  House  bill, 
although  amended  in  many  respects  by  leaving  out  parts 
which  were  thought  by  the  committee  to  be  unnecessary. 

There  were  two  ideas  prevalent  in  preparing  and  pass- 
ing this  bill  through  Congress.  The  bill  drawn  by  the 
Delegate  from  Alaska  provided  for  placing  all  power  in 
the  hands  of  the  President  and  making  him  responsible  for 
the  location  of  routes  and  the  expenditure  of  the  appropria- 
tion in  the  construction  of  the  road.  There  w^  ere  those  who 
wished  to  have  the  w^ork  done  by  a  commission  to  be  ap- 


CELEBRATING  THE  RAILWAY  VICTORY  185 

pointed  by  the  President.  The  bill  introduced  by  Senator 
Jones  represented  the  commission  idea  and  proposed  to 
relieve  the  President  from  the  responsibility  and  to  impose 
the  whole  burden  upon  a  commission  to  be  appointed  by 
the  President.  Much  opposition  was  made  to  this  idea  and 
Congress  finally  agreed  to  impose  the  entire  burden  upon 
the  President. 

Of  course,  there  was  much  opposition  to  the  bill  from 
two  sources:  First,  from  those  interests  which  wished  to 
control  transportation  in  the  Territory  of  Alaska  and  did 
not  wish  the  Government  to  enter  the  field  of  transporta- 
tion in  that  Territory;  secondly,  from  those  who  were  con- 
scientiously opposed  to  the  Government  constructing  a  rail- 
road and  operating  it  in  opposition  to  private  enterprise. 

It  was  presented  to  those  who  held  this  view  that  the 
situation  in  Alaska  was  such  that  while  the  bill  might  seem 
open  to  their  objection  really  it  amounted  to  no  more  than 
Government  aid  which  had  so  freely  been  given  to  rail- 
roads in  the  Southern  and  Western  States. 

The  opposition  to  the  bill  in  the  House  was  lead  by 
Messrs.  Ferris  and  Davenport,  of  Oklahoma,  who  were 
earnestly  supported  by  many  representatives  from  the 
South  and  especially  along  the  lower  Mississippi  River. 
President  Wilson  did  not  commit  himself  in  favor  of  the 
bill  until  the  convening  of  Congress  on  December  2,  1913. 
In  his  message  delivered  on  that  day  he  strongly  advo- 
cated the  building  of  the  Government  railroad  in  Alaska. 
From  that  time  forward  his  Administration  supported  the 
Alaska  Railway  Bill  and  gave  every  assistance  in  procuring 
its  final  passage.  Before  the  President  made  any  public  an- 
nouncement upon  the  subject,  both  the  Senate  and  the 
House  had  favorably  reported  the  bill— in  the  Senate  on 
June  17th,  and  in  the  House  on  November  26th,  prior  to  the 
President's  Message. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT'S  PROGRAM. 


Vigorous  Report  of  Secretary  Lane — The  Commission 
Form  of  Government  for  Alaska  Recommended — An 
Important  Document  Filled  with  Valuable  In- 
formation —  How  Alaska  Is  Governed  —  How  It 
Should  Be  Regulated — Concentration  of  Power  and 
Authority  Recommended. 


WE  have  seen  from  the  preceding  chapters  some- 
thing of  the  size  of  the  effort  which  was  found  nec- 
essary to  overcome  the  opposition  of  the  Eastern 
States  to  the  initial  measure  of  the  National  Government 
for  a  new  beginning  of  the  development  of  Alaska.  Atten- 
tion now  is  directed  to  the  necessity  of  continuing  a  similar 
program  of  education  and  agitation,  if  the  general  pro- 
gram of  the  Government,  which  must  follow  this  initial 
step,  is  to  be  carried  out  to  the  advantage  of  the  whole 
country. 

As  already  noted,  the  opposition  of  the  East,  and 
some  portions  of  the  Middle  West,  to  the  vigorous  utiliza- 
tion of  Alaskan  resources,  rises  from  three  causes.  First, 
there  still  is  the  honest  ignorance  of  the  people  as  to  the 
value  of  Alaska  for  general  settlement  purposes.  Secondly, 
there  is  the  prejudice  of  the  great  business  interests  which 
scent  danger  to  their  commercial  and  industrial  combines 
in  a  radical  development  of  the  natural  resources  and 
ever  widening  transportation  interests  of  Alaska.  Thirdly, 
there  are  the   demands    of  politics. 

(186) 


NATIONAL  aOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  187 

In  order  to  overcome  these  adverse  forces,  the  friends 
of  Alaska  will  need  to  continue,  indefinitely,  their  cam- 
paign of  educational  and  diplomatic  efforts  throughout 
the  whole  country.  This  becomes  the  more  imperative  as 
one  realizes  the  extent  of  the  Government's  program  on 
behalf  of  Alaska. 

In  this  connection,  it  may  be  noted  that  the  Alaskans 
yet  remaining  at  the  National  Capital,  to  watch  and 
promote  Alaskan  legislation,  now  on  the  calendar,  needful 
to  unlock  the  Northland  and  to  permit  of  the  utilization 
of  its  resources,  are  prone  to  fret  under  the  excessive 
attention  paid  to  Mexico.  One  of  these  gentlemen  recently 
expressed  the  view  that  the  Washington  administration 
is  profoundly  interested  in  the  correction  of  economic 
conditions  in  Mexico,  in  an  improvement  of  the  land  sys- 
tem of  that  foreign  country,  while,  for  the  past  seven 
years  all  of  the  lands  in  Alaska  have  been  tied  up ;  the 
development  of  that  vast  country  strangled;  private  own- 
ership of  land  practically  prohibited,  and,  all  because, 
through  conflicting  opinions  in  Congress,  that  body  has 
been  utterly  unable  to  create  and  to  put  into  effect  any 
adequate  land  system  for  Alaska. 

It  properly  is  held  that  "as  a  question  of  comparative 
values,  the  unlocking  of  Alaska  to  development,  with  the 
certainty  that  it  would  be  a  great  and  prosperous  state, 
capable  of  supporting  a  population  which  would  consume 
more  products  of  other  parts  of  the  country  than  Mexico 
will  in  the  next  generation,  is  of  much  greater  economic 
importance  than  any  internal  policies  which  may  be  forced 
upon   Mexico." 

These  observations  lead  us  to  ask  for  information  as 
to  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  National  Government's 
program  for  the  development  of  Alaska,  and  its  plan  of 
governmental  regulation  of  that  important  work.  First, 
there  is  the  constructive  policy  of  Secretary  Lane  for  a 
commission  form  of  government  for  the  Territory.  For 
information  as  to  the  provisions  of  this  plan,  we  naturally 


18S  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

consult  the  Secretary's  report  on  the  same  to  Senator 
Key  ritnian  and  Congressman  William  C.  Houston,  chair- 
men oi"  the  Senate  and  House  committees  on  territories, 
respectively.  In  this  somewhat  exhaustive  document,  Mr. 
Lane  urges  the  creation  of  a  development  board,  to  have 
complete  control  of  the  national  resources  of  Alaska,  in 
which  he  makes  a  severe  arraignment  of  the  present  red 
tape  methods  in  the  management  of  public  affairs  in  that 
Territory. 

A  reliable  news  report  from  Washington,  D.  C,  says: 
''Bills  for  the  creation  of  boards  or  commissions  to  ad- 
minister the  government  of  Alaska  have  been  introduced 
in  the  Senate  by  Senator  Chamberlain  of  Oregon  and  in 
the  House  by  Delegate  Wickersham  of  Alaska.  These  bills 
differ  only  in  detail,  and  the  general  purpose  and  scope  of 
both  is  in  accord  with  the  recommendations  of  Secretary 
Lane. 

''The  development  board  plan  urged  by  the  secretary 
provides  for  a  board  of  three  members,  appointed  by  the 
President  and  confirmed  by  the  Senate,  w^hich  is  to  have 
headquarters  in  Alaska  and  is  to  be  charged  with  the 
general  conduct  of  all  governmental  affairs  there  connected 
with  the  natural  resources  and  development  of  the 
country." 

Secretary  Lane  outlines  his  interesting  plan  in  the 
following  able  argument  which  I  quote  from  the  report  in 
question :  "While  this  patchwork  system  of  administrative 
machinery  has  answered  well  enough  while  the  govern- 
ment's policy  has  been  merely  to  keep  the  door  shut  and 
discourage  development,  it  will  not  answer  under  the  new 
policy. 

"If  the  work  needed  in  the  future  were  to  be  purely 
and  solely  administrative,  it  must  still  be  efficient  and 
under  responsible  and  readily  responsive  supervision. 
Alaska's  remoteness  alone  makes  anything  like  supervision 
by  bureaus  located  in  Washington  more  or  less  perfunctory 
and  superficial. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  189 

"What  we  now  have  in  Alaska  is  little  more  than  a 
number  of  independent  and  unrelated  agents,  acting  largely 
upon  their  own  initiative,  each  attending  only  to  some 
special  branch  of  police  work,  and  no  branch  adequately 
organized  to  cope  with  its  own  problems,  without  even  at- 
tempting to  coordinate  its  work  with  that  of  the  other 
branches. 

"But  the  task  of  administering  the  laws  relating  to 
the  disposal  and  development  of  the  public  domain  and 
resources  in  Alaska  is  also  a  task  of  construction.  The 
problem  is  the  settlement  and  development  of  the  country 
and  of  all  its  resources  to  the  best  advantage.  Each 
branch  of  work,  now  under  a  different  supervision,  is  a 
part  of  one  and  the  same  problem.  It  is  a  huge  task  that 
is  ahead,  but  it  is  a  single  task,  and  to  undertake  it 
successfully  it  must  be  put  into  the  hands  of  a  single 
authoritative  directorate. 

"I  have  pointed  out,  in  some  detail,  the  shortcomings 
of  the  present  system — its  delays,  red  tape,  circumlocution, 
divisions  and  overlapping  of  authority  and  ineffectiveness, 
as  well  as  the  discouragement  it  offers  to  settlers,  whom 
we  want  to  encourage. 

"To  secure  effectiveness  we  must  eliminate  these  de- 
lays, the  red  tape  and  the  confusing  and  confused 
machinery  now  in  use,  and  substitute  for  it  machinery 
that  will  be  direct,  prompt  and  certain  in  its  operation. 

"The  members  of  the  proposed  development  board 
would  be  appointed  by  the  President  and  confirmed  by  the 
Senate.  Their  salaries  would  be  sufficient  to  enable  men 
of  ability  to  devote  themselves  exclusively  to  the  work  of 
the  board.  This  board  would  have  its  headquarters  in 
Alaska,  and  its  members  would  live  in  the  Territory.  It 
would  have  authority  to  appoint  its  own  agents  and 
supervise  their  work. 

"The  board  would  make  its  reports  and  be  direclly 
responsible  for  its  actions  to  a  single  cabinet  olVicci-,  the 


190  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Secretary  of  the  Interior,  whose  department  is  most  closely 
identified  with  Alaskan  affairs,  and  probably  best  equipped 
by  experience  and  organization  to  handle  such  matters. 

"It  is  proposed  and  urged  that  the  board  should  take 
over  such  authority  now  exercised  by  various  departments 
and  bureaus  as  may  be  necessary  to  give  it  supervision 
over  practically  the  entire  public  domain  and  all  the 
natural  resources  of  Alaska,  and  control  of  such  activities 
as  are  closely  related  and  essential  to  the  development 
of  the  physical  resources  of  the  country. 

'•The  board  would  do  the  work  now  done  in  Alaska  by 
the  general  land  oflBce,  the  forest  service,  the  road  com- 
mission, the  bureau  of  mines,  the  bureau  of  education  and 
the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.  It  should  take  over  a  part 
of  the  work  and  authority  of  the  bureau  of  fisheries. 
There  are  good  reasons  why  the  control  of  the  seal 
industry,  the  salmon  hatcheries  and  the  sea  fisheries 
should  be  left  in  the  hands  of  the  Department  of  Commerce. 

"Beginning  at  the  shore  line,  however,  the  develop- 
ment board  should  have  complete  control  of  all  government 
activities  and  interests  connected  with  the  development 
of  industries  and  transportation,  and  the  settling  of  the 
country. 

"This  should  include  the  control  of  water  powers, 
building  and  maintenance  of  roads  and  trails  and  the 
operation  and  rates  of  the  railroads  and  telegraph  lines. 

"It  should  include  protection  and  control  of  game, 
fur-bearing  animals,  public  lands,  mineral  deposits,  coal, 
oil,  gas,  hot  springs,  timber  lands  and  timber.  The  board 
should  also  take  over  the  work  of  education  among  the 
natives  and  the  supervision  of  the  reindeer  industry. 

"It  should  control  the  work  of  the  surveyor  general's 
office.  It  should  have  authority  to  either  succeed  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  in  supervision  of  the  agricul- 
tural stations  in  the  Territory,  or  to  supplement  these  with 
demonstration  farms  for  the  benefit   of  homesteaders. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  191 

"All  of  these  activities  are  closely  related;  all  form 
a  part  of  the  one  big  Alaskan  problem.  Their  direction 
should  all  be  in  the  same  hands. 

"The  present  national  forests  do  not  include  all  the 
Alaskan  forests,  and  yet  a  very  large  part  of  the  present 
forest  reserves  are  untimbered  lands.  If  it  is  desirable 
to  protect  a  part  of  the  timber  lands  in  the  Territory 
there  seems  no  reason  why  they  should  not  all  be  equally 
protected. 

"Large  quantities  of  timber  will  be  needed  in  the  full 
development  of  mining  and  other  industries  in  Alaska  and 
the  settlement  of  the  country.  The  timber  supply  is  none 
too  great  to  meet  those  future  demands.  In  the  face  of 
these  facts,  the  forest  service  is  planning  to  sell  large 
amounts  of  timber  for  export.  If  the  general  laws  prohib- 
iting exportation  of  Alaska  timber  are  wise  laws  they 
should  apply  to  all  the  timber  in  the  Territory.  There 
seems  to  be  no  reason  for  making  fish  of  one  tree  and 
flesh  of  another. 

"Sales  of  timber  from  the  national  forests  in  Alaska 
have  not  been  sufificient  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  forest 
service  in  the  Territory.  It  would  seem  that  the  time  has 
come  when  the  protection  and  preservation  of  the  forests 
in  the  Territory  might  safely  be  left  to  the  same  adminis- 
tration that  is  trusted  with  control  of  other  parts  of  the 
public  domain.  The  forest  service  might  very  well  be  left 
in  an  advisory  capacity  to  the  development  board  in 
matters  relating  to  forestry. 

"It  is  probable  that  such  a  board  as  proposed  would 
discover  most  of  the  present  separate  and  overlapping  in- 
spection and  police  forces  in  the  Territory  to  be  unneces- 
sary, and  would  secure  greater  efficiency  by  having  some 
of  these  special  policemen  do  general  patrol  duty. 

"The  duties  of  forest  rangers,  game  wardens,  T)ro- 
tectors  of  fur-bearing  animals,  reindeer  guards,  bird 
wardens,  etc.,  would  not  seem  to  be  of  a  nature  requiring- 
such  a  high   degree   of  expert   and   spe(Malized   knowledge; 


192  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

and  ability  that  they  might  not  all  be  performed  by  the 
same  men,  and  much  of  the  present  duplication  and  multi- 
plication of  cost  and  etfort  be  eliminated,  with  increased 
effectiveness. 

"Under  the  proposed  consolidated  administration  of 
land  and  resources,  a  single  set  of  experts  and  agents 
would  be  more  efficient  than  the  present  duplication  of 
field  forces.  Instead  of  lengthy  and  involved  correspond- 
ence between  agents  in  the  field  and  several  bureaus  in 
Washington  to  determine  questions  of  law  and  of  fact,  the 
questions  of  fact  would  be  decided  on  the  ground,  in 
Alaska,  under  the  administration  of  the  development 
board,  and  all  the  papers  in  any  land  claim  would  be  thor- 
oughly prepared  before  the  case  comes  to  Washington. 

"This  would  simplify  procedure,  help  to  reduce  the 
congestion  in  the  general  land  ofiice,  give  fuller  and  more 
exact  information  upon  which  to  base  decisions,  and  ob- 
viate and  eliminate  the  long  delays  caused  by  the  present 
methods. 

"Under  the  law,  natives  and  other  original  settlers  in 
Alaska  are  guaranteed  undisturbed  occupancy  of  their 
lands.  No  provision  is  made,  however,  for  granting  titles 
to  those  lands,  and  nothing  has  been  done  toward  a  solu- 
tion of  this  problem,  which  is  constantly  becoming  more 
vexatious. 

"This  is  one  of  the  problems  which  must  be  worked  out 
on  the  ground  by  men  familiar  with  conditions,  and  whose 
recommendations  will  carry  with  them  assurance  of  com- 
plete information  and  disinterestedness. 

"Transportation  and  communication  are  the  nerves  and 
arteries  of  civilization  and  commerce.  Kailroads  and 
wagon  roads  are  equally  essential  to  good  mail  service. 
Settlement  follows  close  upon  the  heels  of  the  road  builders 
everywhere. 

"The  construction  of  roads  and  trails  is  very  closely 
allied  with  other  problems  involved  in  the  opening  and  de- 
velopment of  Alaska  and  its  resources,  and  it  would  seem 


HON.  FRANKLIN  K.  LANE— SECRETARY  OF  TIIH   INTKKIOU 

Photo    copyright    by    Harris    &    Ewing. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  193 

the  part  of  wisdom  to  place  this  authority  and  supervi- 
sion in  the  hands  of  men  charged  with  the  broad  work 
of  encouraging  development. 

"The  army  has  done  the  pioneer  work  in  this  line, 
and  done  it  well,  but  since  the  general  development  of 
the  country  must  be  considered  from  a  much  broader 
point  of  view  than  that  of  military  necessity  or  strategy, 
it  seems  reasonable  that  the  handling  and  disposition  of 
the  public  lands  and  natural  resources  and  the  opening  and 
maintenance  of  the  roads  essential  to  the  opening  of  lands 
and  development  of  natural  resources  should  all  be  in  the 
same  hands. 

"For  many  years  road  building  must  be  carried  on 
by  the  government,  as  the  mileage  to  be  built  and  cared 
for  will  be  too  heavy  a  burden  upon  new  settlers  and 
young  and  experimental  industries. 

*'The  division  of  road  funds  and  construction  work 
before  referred  to  seems  wholly  useless  and  without  justi- 
fication. If  roads  are  needed  in  the  sections  of  country 
now  within  the  forest  reserves,  they  should  be  built  with- 
out regard  to  the  percentage  of  timber  sales;  if  they  are 
more  needed  elsewhere  in  the  Territory,  it  seems  the  height 
of  absurdity  to  spend  the  money  arbitrarily  for  construct- 
ing little  patches  of  trails  and  board  walks  here  and  there 
in  these  reservations,  just  because  they  are  forest  reserves. 

"It  is  perhaps  too  much  to  predict  that  Alaska  ever 
will  become  a  rich  farming  country,  in  which  its  agricul- 
tural products  will  predominate.  There  is  little  doubt, 
however,  judging  from  results  already  attained,  but  that 
the  territory  is  capable  of  increasing  agricultural  possi- 
bilities which  will  be  sufficiently  profitable  to  enable  the 
supplying  of  home  markets  with  home-grown  agricul- 
tural products  to  a  very  large  extent. 

"The  reports  of  the  agricultural  experiment  stations 
in  Alaska  show  crop  productions  in  potatoes  and  some 
grains  that  compare  favorably  in  yield  with  highly  lavored 


Sig.   13. 


194  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

sections  of  the  United  States,  while  the  market  value  of 
the  crops  locally  is  of  course  much  larger. 

"In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  agricultural  experiment 
stations  carry  on  experiments  wholly  without  regard  to 
cost  or  financial  results,  as  a  rule,  it  will  probably  be 
found  that  an  extension  of  practical  demonstration  work 
on  the  farms  will  be  of  large  value  in  the  encouragement 
of  homesteading  and  farming  in  the  Territory. 

"As  growth  and  settlement  increase,  the  need  of  more 
demonstration  agents  in  the  field  will  naturally  increase. 
While  the  men  who  do  this  work  should  probably  continue 
to  be  ultimately  responsible  to  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, there  should  be  close  coordination  and  coopera- 
tion with  a  local  administrative  board  familiar  with  the 
direction  and  prospect  of  settlement  and  development 
along  other  lines. 

"Practically  all  the  lands  and  natural  resources  of 
Alaska,"  says  the  Secretary,  '-are  still  the  property  of  the 
United  States.  Until  now  we  have  only  protected  these 
riches  against  monopoly  and  waste,  and  the  most  cumber- 
some departmental  machinery  has  sufiiced.  Heretofore  we 
have  done  little  more  in  Alaska  than  keep  a  few  police- 
men stationed  at  closed  doors  to  prevent  breaking  and 
entering.  Now  that  we  are  to  open  the  doors,  we  need 
more  than  a  police  force. 

"Mineral  and  other  resources  must  be  opened  to  use; 
the  lands  must  be  opened  to  settlement.  There  must  be 
such  administration  of  the  laws  as  will  give  prompt  and 
ready  assistance,  unhampered  by  red  tape  and  unnecessary 
delays,  to  honest  settlers,  while  protecting  fully  the  rights 
of  the  nation  against  monopoly,  fraud  and  waste. 

*'We  are  to  encourage  the  building  of  industries  and 
commerce,  and  the  making  of  homes  and  farms,  in  the  new 
Territoj-y.  To  do  this  we  must  plan  and  build  systems 
of  roads  and  farms.  We  must  plan  the  location  of  towns 
and  provide  facilities  for  settlement.  Fuel  and  power 
must  be  made  available  for  domestic  and  industrial  uses. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  195 

Revenues  must  be  provided  without  discouragement  to  set- 
tlement and  industry,  and  there  should  be  no  bar  to  efforts 
for  simplifying  and  bettering  taxation  methods. 

"There  must  be  new  and  simple  machinery  for  the 
successful  working  out  of  this  program.  The  new  policy 
is  not  to  invite  a  few  men  to  exploit  the  cream  of  Alaska's 
riches,  but  to  develop  all  the  resources  and  possibilities 
of  the  Territory  harmoniously,  for  the  best  interests  both 
of  the  people  who  go  to  Alaska  and  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  who  own  this  great  public  domain. 

"Alaska's  problems  are  largely  peculiar  to  Alaska. 
Our  present  system  of  government  there  is  heterologous. 
Instead  of  one  government  in  Alaska  we  have  a  number, 
interlocked,  overlapped,  cumbersome  and  confusing. 

"There  is  a  government  of  the  forests,  a  government 
of  the  fisheries,  one  of  the  reindeer  and  natives,  another 
of  the  cables  and  telegraphs.  There  is  a  government  for 
certain  public  lands  and  forests.  Each  of  these  govern- 
ments is  intent  upon  its  own  particular  business,  jealous 
of  its  own  success  and  prerogative,  and  all  are  more  or 
less  unrelated  and  independent  in  their  operation. 

"Experience  has  demonstrated  that  efficient  adminis- 
tration is  best  secured  by  centralizing  responsibility  and 
authority  in  the  hands  of  a  few  men,  who  can  be  held  to 
strict  accountability  for  the  results  of  their  actions.  The 
proposed  development  board  for  Alaska  follows  this  mod- 
ern and  well-tested  plan  for  securing  ellicient  adminis- 
tration." 

Speaking  of  the  defects  of  the  existing,  but  now  obso- 
lete system,  Secretary  Lane  says: 

"There  is  one  procedure  for  making  homestead,  min- 
eral and  other  land  entries  within  the  National  Forests ;  an- 
other procedure  for  making  such  entries  in  lands  outside 
the  forest  reserves.  Water  power  and  power  sites  within  the 
forest  reserves  are  leased  and  operated  under  permits  li-nm 
the  Forest  service;  there  is  question  ns  to  whether  inillior- 


196  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ity  exists  for  disposal  or  leasing  of  water  powers  elsewhere 
in  Alaska. 

"A  citizen  who  wanted  to  lease  an  island  for  fox 
farming  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  three  different 
departments  for  several  months  in  an  effort  to  learn  which 
had  jurisdiction  and  authority  to  make  the  lease.  It  was 
finally  decided  that  none  of  them  possessed  this  authority. 
Certain  islands  along  the  south  coast  of  Alaska  may  be 
leased  by  the  Department  of  Commerce;  adjoining  unre- 
served islands  may  not  be  leased,  but  may  be  acquired 
under  the  general  land  laws  from  the  Department  of  the 
Interior.  Still  other  islands  are  reserved  for  special  pur- 
poses, under  the  control  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture. 

"Vast  areas  in  the  forest  reserves  are  entirely  untim- 
bered,  but  are  held  under  the  regulation  of  the  Forest  Serv- 
ice, while  timbered  lands  in  other  sections  are  unprotected. 

'^Mineral  claims  within  the  forest  reserves  must  be  in- 
vestigated and  approved  by  the  Forest  Service  before  the 
general  land  office  may  grant  patents.  Homesteads  within 
the  forest  reserves  are  surveyed  by  the  Forest  Service  with- 
out cost  to  the  entry  man.  Homesteaders  on  unsurveyed 
land  outside  the  forest  reserves  must  pay  for  their  own 
surveys. 

"Timber  in  the  National  Forests  is  sold  at  auction, 
under  rules  and  regulations  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture. Timber  on  other  public  lands  is  sold  under  dif- 
ferent rules  and  regulations,  made  by  the  Interior  De- 
partment. 

"Roads  and  trails  within  the  forest  reserves  are  built 
by  the  forest  service.  Roads  and  trails  outside  these  re- 
serves are  built  by  a  commission  of  army  officers. 

"The  general  laws  forbid  the  exportation  of  timber 
cut  off  public  lands  in  Alaska,  but  permit  exportation  of 
pulp  made  from  such  timber.  There  is  no  prohibition 
against  exportation  of  timber  cut  in  the  forest  reserves. 

"Many  islands  frequented  by  birds  are  set  aside  as  game 
reserves,   and  are   under   the   protection   of  the   Biological 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  197 

Survey,  which  sends  a  keeper  in  the  summer  to  guard 
some  of  the  ishinds.  Game  animals  throughout  Alaska 
are  protected  by  wardens  hired  by  and  under  the  direction 
of  the  Governor  of  Alaska,  who  enforce  regulations  made 
by  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  and  are  paid  from  an 
appropriation  made  to  and  disbursed  by  the  Department  of 
the  Interior.  Fur-bearing  animals  are  under  the  protec- 
tion of  wardens  appointed  by  the  Secretary  of  Commerce 
and  work  under  regulations  made  by  the  Department  of 
Commerce.  Game  animals  are  deer,  moose,  caribou,  moun- 
tain sheep,  mountain  goats,  brown  bears,  sea  lions  and 
walruses.  Fur-bearing  animals  comprise  rabbits,  squirrels, 
wolves,  lynx,  mink,  otter,  beaver,  foxes  and  black  bears. 

''The  Bureau  of  Fisheries  employs  one  warden  and 
five  deputy  wardens  for  the  protection  of  fur-bearing  ani- 
mals in  the  Territory.  Game  wardens  are  appointed  by 
the  Governor,  and  rangers  and  other  oflQcers  of  the  forest 
service  are  authorized  by  the  Governor  to  also  act  as  game 
wardens.  The  Governor's  game  wardens  have  also  been 
appointed  by  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  to  protect  fur-bear- 
ing animals,  but  at  present  only  one  person  is  serving  in 
this  dual  capacity.  Forest  rangers,  however,  are  not 
charged  with  protection  of  fur-bearing  animals,  and  the 
wardens  and  deputies  of  the  Bureau  of  Fisheries  have  no 
authority  over  the  protection  of  game." 


Mr.  Lane  points  out  that  there  are  now  only  802  miles 
of  wagon  roads,  617  miles  of  sled  roads  and  2,100  miles 
of  trails  in  Alaska,  for  the  construction  and  maintenance 
of  which  about  |2,600,000  has  been  expended.  He  declares 
that  the  roads  and  trails  are  as  essential  to  the  opening 
of  Alaska  to  settlement  as  railroads,  and  that  these  roads 
for  several  years  to  come  must  be  built  by  the  Government. 

The  Secretary  goes  into  some  details  concerning  the 
needs  of  the  Seattle- Alaska  cable  system,  as  follows :  'The 
cable  between  the  United  States  and  Alaska  and  the  tele- 
graph lines  in  Alaska  constructed  and  owned  by  the  Gov- 


198  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

eminent,  are  operated  by  the  signal  corps  of  the  War  De- 
partment. 

"It  was  proposed  some  time  ago  that  these  lines 
should  be  taken  over  and  operated  by  the  Postoffice  Depart- 
ment, and  there  has  been  some  conferences  between  the 
War  and  I'ostoffice  Departments  concerning  this  project, 
which,  however,  have  not  reached  a  conclusion,  although 
in  view  of  these  negotiations,  I  understand,  no  estimate  for 
maintenance  and  operation  of  the  system  for  1915  has  been 
made  by  the  War  Department. 

''Since  the  operation  of  this  telegraph  and  cable  system 
is  largely  for  commercial  purposes,  its  continued  operation 
as  a  part  of  the  military  establishment  is  objected  to  in 
some  quarters  as  inconsistent.  Whether  this  service  should 
be  continued  by  the  War  Department,  transferred  to  the 
Postoffice,  or  operated  under  the  local  management  of  the 
proposed  development  board,  is  a  matter  that  may  be 
worthy  of  some  consideration,  and  should  be  determined 
wholly  by  the  question  of  which  administration  will  be 
most  efficient,  economical  and  convenient. 

''This  cable  and  telegraph  system  includes  2,621  miles 
of  submarine  cable,  1,064  miles  of  land  lines,  with  forty 
offices,  and  ten  wireless  stations.  The  wireless  stations  of 
the  military  system  are  located  at  Wrangell,  Petersburg, 
Eagle,  Circle,  Fairbanks,  Tanana,  Nulato,  St.  Michael, 
Kotlik  and  Nome. 

"Wireless  stations  at  Valdez,  Sitka,  Cordova,  Kodiak 
Island,  Udatka,  Dutch  Harbor  and  Pribilof  Island  are 
operated  by  the  Navy  Department,  which  has  expended 
1347,364:  in  the  equipment  of  wireless  telegraphic  outfits  in 
Alaska,  according  to  Navy   Department  figures. 

"Those  familiar  with  this  service  say  that,  under  what- 
ever administrative  head  these  lines  may  be  placed,  a  new 
cable  will  have  to  be  laid  between  Seattle  and  Sitka  within 
the  next  few  years.  The  laying  of  the  present  cable  cost 
something  like  $1,000,000,  and  its  replacement,  if  found 
necessary,  would  probably  cost  no  less. 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM  199 

"While  it  is  said  that  under  present  conditions  wire- 
less cannot  be  substituted  for  cable  service  between  this 
country  and  Alaska,  it  is  not  impossible  that  a  way  may 
be  found  of  making  this  substitution  and  obviating  the 
heavy  expense  incurred  in  the  rapid  wear  upon  submarine 
cables  caused  by  the  great  depths,  rocky  and  precipitous 
sea  bottom,  electrolytic  influences  and  seismic  dangers  to 
which  they  are  now  exposed  in  these  waters." 


The  financial  statement  contained  in  Mr.  Lane's  report 
is  interesting.  He  says:  "The  expenditures  include  $314,- 
051.49  for  the  Treasury  Department,  |54,224.37  of  the  Navy 
Department,  |2,247,494.13  by  the  War  Department,  $552,- 
898.82  by  the  Postoffice  Department  and  |732,G43.2S  spent 
by  the  Department  of  Justice. 

"Although  a  statement  of  the  receipts  and  expendi- 
tures," says  the  Secretary,  "shows  a  large  discrepancy  on 
the  debit  side  of  the  ledger,  this  is  by  no  means  discour- 
aging. There  are  many  items  of  governmental  expenditure 
in  the  Territory  that  are  not  fairly  chargeable  to  Alaska. 
Probably  one-half  or  more  of  the  present  and  past  expen- 
ditures come  under  this  head.  The  deficiency  remaining  is 
one  that  may  easily  be  overcome, 

"Alaska  can  be  made  self-supporting  within  a  very 
few'  years,  as  soon  as  conditions  are  created  that  will 
enable  settlement  and  development  and  produce  revenues. 
So  far  the  Government  has  done  little,  aside  from  (he 
care  of  the  seal  herd,  to  bring  returns.  It  is  utireasonable 
to  expect  revenue  from  an  undeveloped  and  unsettled 
country." 


The  foregoing  condensation  of  Secretary  Lane's  able 
statement  on  conditions  and  requirements  in  Alaska  is 
likely  to  constitute  the  beginning  of  a  new  order  in  I  Ik; 
government  of  that  Territory,  roiicorniiig  his  nttei-aiiccs, 
the  Seattle  Post-Intelligencer  of  June  2,  1014,  said: 


200  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

"There  is  sound  sense,  practicability  and  constructive 
statesmanship  in  the  suggestion  made  by  Secretary  Lane 
for  the  creation  oi'  a  commission,  to  take  charge  of  all  the 
resources  of  Alaska,  to  do  that  work  well  in  that  Territory 
which  is  now  done  badly  or  not  at  all  by  half  a  dozen  or 
more  different  governmental  agencies,  all  limited  in  what 
work  they  can  do  by  the  constant  necessity  of  referring 
everything  to  bureau  officials  in  Washington  City. 

"In  the  form  of  a  report  made  to  the  Senate  and  the 
House  Committees  on  Territories,  Secretary  Lane  marshals 
the  arguments  in  favor  of  his  scheme.  The  mere  recital 
in  this  report  of  the  manner  in  which  matters  affecting 
Alaska  are  now  parceled  around  among  the  different 
bureaus  and  departments,  is  a  sufficient  argument  in  itself 
for  the  adoption  of  some  simple,  comprehensive  and  work- 
able plan,  and  he  has  outlined  such  a  plan. 

"There  should  scarcely  be  any  question  that  all  mat- 
ters affecting  the  public  domain  should  be  administered, 
not  alone  in  Alaska  but  everywhere  else,  by  one  bureau 
of  one  department  of  the  general  government.  The  forestry 
service  belongs  to  and  should  be  entirely  under  the  juris- 
diction of  the  Interior  Department,  for  one  thing, 

"But  as  far  as  Alaska  is  concerned,  all  the  matters 
affecting  it  and  the  development  of  its  resources  should  be 
left  under  the  control  of  a  single  commission  of  competent 
men,  on  the  ground,  with  full  power  to  act,  unhampered 
by  the  bureaucratic  methods  of  Washington  City,  but  free 
to  deal  with  every  situation  as  they  find  it.  This  is  the 
diametric  opposite  of  the  bureaucratic  methods  under 
which  Alaska  has  been  bottled  up  for  so  many  years  and 
that  very  reason  affords  a  strong  argument  for  it.  Secre- 
tary Lane's  report  on  the  subject  should  be  conclusive  and 
Congress  should  act  upon  his  recommendations,  which  have 
already  been  embodied  in  bills  now  before  Congress." 

The  press  of  the  East,  however,  did  not  receive  Mr. 
Lane's  statement  with  general  approval.  The  idea  immedi- 
ately was  advanced  that  his  proposals  contemplated  placing 


NATIONAL  GOVERNMENT'S  PROGRAM  201 

too  much  power  in  the  hands  of  only  three  men.  Thus,  it 
is  seen  that  Eastern  sentiment  still  is  prone  to  find  a  pre- 
text for  throwing  obstructions  in  the  way  of  Alaskan  devel- 
opment. This  shows  that  the  friends  of  Alaska  must  con- 
tinue their  campaign  of  education  in  that  important  part 
of  the  Nation. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


GOVERNMENT'S  PROGRAM— COAL  LANDS. 


More  Liberal  Policy  Regarding  Coal  Claims — End  op  the 
Controversy  Which  Locked  up  Alaska  Resources 
— Nature  of  the  Forestry  Troubles — Forestry  Domi- 
nation ON  THE  Decline  and  Industrial  Progress  Re- 
viving— A  Similar  Plan  for  Idle  Water  Powers. 


IT  has  been  made  plain  by  the  preceding  chapters  what 
the  program  of  the  National  Government  for  Alaska  is 
regarding  railroads,  or  the  internal  transportation  of 
the  Territory ;  also,  as  to  the  administration  of  law,  and  the 
regulation  of  industry,  generally.  In  connection  with  the 
latter,  many  subjects  have  been  covered.  We  now  come 
to  consider  the  all-important  question  of  the  development  of 
the  coal  fields  of  Alaska,  and  the  plans  of  the  Federal 
Administration  in  that  behalf.  While  this  important  phase 
of  our  great  subject  has  nowhere  been  reduced  to  print, 
except  as  the  coal  land  leasing  bills  now  before  both 
houses  of  Congress  give  expression  to  it,  there  is,  neverthe- 
less, a  somewhat  clear  indication  of  the  policy  of  the  Ad- 
ministration on  this  head  disclosed  in  the  regular  routine 
of  official  business  at  the  National  Capital. 

I  have  avoided,  in  a  great  measure,  giving  an  account 
of  what  is  known  as  the  coal  claims  controversy  of  Alaska, 
and  of  how  the  coal  lands  were  tied  up  from  development 
through  what  many  hold  to  be  an  over-zealous  administra- 
tion of  the  conservation  policies  of  former  national  cabi- 
nets. This  course  has  been  adopted  because  the  whole 
matter  has  become  a  factor   in   party  politics,   in    such  a 

(202) 


GOVERNMENTS  PROGRAM— COAL  LANDS  203 

complicated  way  that  one  finds  it  difficult  to  state  the  case 
fully,  without  giving  ofifense  to  certain  political  factions. 
This  it  is  the  purpose  of  this  effort  to  avoid. 

It  was  to  have  been  expected  that  as  soon  as  pros- 
pecting and  development  disclosed  the  existence  of  vast, 
valuable  coal  deposits  in  Alaska,  those  seeking  wealth  by 
means  of  the  coal  industry,  possessed  of  the  means  enabling 
them  to  do  so,  would  put  forth  strenuous  efforts  to  pos- 
sess themselves  of  as  extensive  coal  areas  in  Alaska  as 
possible.  In  this  struggle  of  rivalry,  no  doubt  more  than 
one  individual  or  concern  resorted  to  extremes  which 
transgressed  strict  interpretations  of  the  mining  laws. 
There  always  is  a  more  or  less  broad  margin  for  subter- 
fuge in  location  enterprises  touching  all  classes  of  mining 
claims,  and,  in  some  respects,  coal  land  locating  is  particu- 
larly tempting  to  excesses  along  these  lines. 

On  the  other  hand,  subordinate  officials,  often  too 
officious,  or  over-zealous  to  serve  the  administration  upon 
which  they  depend  for  employment,  frequently  apply  their 
authority  with  too  great  rigor,  and  sometimes  in  a  spirit 
of  partiality.  Between  these  two  extremes  the  coal  claims 
controversy  of  Alaska  rose,  from  time  to  time,  during  the 
past  seven  years,  and,  as  is  well  known,  resulted  in  locking 
up  the  greater  part  of  the  resources  of  the  Territory  from 
development. 

This  was  the  situation  which  the  Wilson  Administra- 
tion faced  upon  assuming  office  in  1913.  At  that  time 
Alaska  was  in  a  state  of  stagnation.  Development  enter- 
prises in  that  great  section  of  the  country  were  at  a  stand- 
still. Capital  and  energy  had  become  discouraged  and 
the  population  had  begun  to  decrease.  In  short,  1913 
found  Alaska  on  the  decline. 

On  taking  office  the  Wilson  Administration  at  once 
entered  upon  a  plan  to  relieve  the  situation  in  Alaska, 
This  movement  was  quite  fully  foreshadowed  in  the  Presi- 
dent's message  to  Congress  in  December,  1913,  and  the  pre- 


204  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ceding  chapters  rather  fully  indicate  what  has  been  accom- 
plished since  that  date. 

The  large  number  of  Alaska  contested  coal  claims 
cases,  which  had  accumulated  prior  to  the  date  last  named, 
became  a  seriously  vexatious  inheritance  of  the  new  Admin- 
istration. A  number  of  prosecutions  had  been  begun  in  the 
Federal  Courts  against  those  charged  with  violating  the 
laws  in  their  attempts  to  secure  Alaska  coal  lands,  and, 
early  in  1914,  some  of  these  went  against  the  Government 
in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  that  most  of  the  others  pend- 
ing would,  if  pressed,  suffer  the  same  termination.  The 
dismissal  of  these  suits,  by  order  of  the  Attorney  General, 
followed,  and  the  way  was  thereby  opened  for  a  peaceful 
solution  of  the  whole  controversy. 

Before  the  middle  of  June,  1914,  it  was  announced 
that  about  all  the  contested  coal  claims  in  Alaska,  and 
many  in  the  State  of  Washington,  would  be  ordered  to 
patent.  This  was  a  smashing  of  the  chains  that  bound 
Alaska  of  nearly  as  great  potentiality  as  the  enactment  of 
the  Alaska  Kailway  law.  It  was  even  stated  that  the 
Alaska  coal  claimants,  who  in  their  long  struggle  for 
justice  were  compelled  to  allow  their  claims  to  lapse, 
would  have  their  rights  restored. 

All  this  was  made  reasonably  certain  in  a  decision 
rendered  by  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Jones  in 
June,  1914,  in  which  a  decision  of  the  Commissioner  of  the 
General  Land  Office,  reached  when  the  controversy  was  at 
its  height,  was  absolutely  reversed,  and  a  patent  was  or- 
dered to  be  issued  to  Charles  C.  Lightfoot  on  a  claim  in 
the  Glacier  coal  fields  in  the  State  of  Washington.  The 
news  report  on  this  head  states  that  the  decision  was 
regarded  as  the  broadest  made  in  many  years,  and  that  as 
other  decisions  must  be  predicated  upon  it,  it  not  only 
will  affect  the  Alaska  coal  claims  but  many  in  this  State. 

The  sweeping  character  of  the  decision  in  the  Light- 
foot  case  is  seen  in  what  may  be  regarded  as  a  somewhat 
new  and  important   interpretation   of  the   law  concerning 


GOVERNMENT'S  PROGRAM— COAL  LANDS  205 

what  constitutes  a  patentable  coal  claim.  In  the  case 
under  consideration,  the  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Inte- 
rior, from  whose  decision  there  is  no  appeal,  says  J,  J. 
Underwood  in  the  Seattle  Times,  "Upsets  the  ruling  made 
by  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Walter  L.  Fisher  in  the 
famous  Cunningham  fight,  to  the  effect  that  a  claimant 
must  open  and  develop  a  payable  mine,  but  it  holds  that  a 
patent  shall  be  issued  in  a  case  where  only  $1,500  worth  of 
work  has  been  done,  and  on  ground  upon  which  the  geo- 
logical formations  are  sufficient  to  warrant  a  man  of  ordi- 
nary prudence  in  the  further  prosecution  of  exploration 
work  and  development,  with  reasonable  prospect  of  suc- 
cess in  developing  thereon  a  workable  and  paying  coal 
mine." 

The  decision  here  referred  to  is  important  in  that  all 
other  decisions  must  be  founded  upon  it.  It  has  not  gen- 
erally been  supposed  that  Secretary  of  the  Interior  Lane 
would  venture  to  reverse  the  Fisher  decision,  "For  fear," 
says  Falcon  Joslin,  president  of  the  Tanana  Mines  Rail- 
way, "of  a  political  attack  from  the  conservationists.  Two 
years  ago  such  a  decision  would  have  meant  his  political 
death  and  his  relegation  to  everlasting  obscurity  in  the 
affairs  of  the  Nation."  It  is  seen,  however,  that  the  cam- 
paign of  education  begun  four  years  ago,  to  which  exten- 
sive reference  has  been  made,  and  in  which  the  Seattle 
press  rendered  valuable  service,  has  resulted  in  a  better 
understanding  of  the  true  situation  regarding  the  princi- 
ples involved  in  these  matters,  especially  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  of  the  East. 

It  is  true  that  this  Lightfoot  decision  deals  a  death 
blow  to  the  dominating  rule  of  the  forest  service.  "It  re- 
cites," writes  Mr.  Underwood,  concerning  this  case,  "that 
certificate  of  entry  was  withheld  because  of  an  adverse  re- 
port filed  by  a  forest  officer.  The  register  and  receiver, 
however,  held  that  the  money  had  been  expended  on  the 
ground  in  good  faith  for  the  purpose  of  developing  a  coal 
mine.     This  decision  was  reversed  bv  the  Commissioner  of 


206  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

the  General  Laud  Office  on  the  ground,  substantially  'that 
the  land  has  little  value  because  of  its  timber;  that  no 
workable  coal  outcrops  had  been  discovered  thereupon,  no 
coal  being  found,  except  a  streak  of  mixed  coal  and  shale 
in  a  shattered  formation  in  two  openings  made  by  the 
claimant.'  The  Alaska  coal  claimants  proved,  not  only  by 
their  own  workings,  but  by  the  reports  of  the  United  States 
Geological  Surve}',  that  they  had  an  abundance  of  coal 
available.  Many  of  them  were  disqualified  on  the  techni- 
cal ground — a  new  ruling  created  for  the  occasion — that 
they  had  not  proved  that  the  coal  could  be  marketed  at  a 
profit." 


Thus,  it  is  seen  that  in  the  efifects  of  recent  decisions  of 
the  Federal  Courts,  and  those  of  the  more  liberal  policy  of 
Secretary  of  the  Interior  Lane  than  appears  to  have  char- 
acterized the  program  of  his  predecessor,  the  coal  claims 
controversy  of  Alaska  is  fast  fading  out  of  existence,  and 
the  obstructions  to  the  development  of  that  Territory  are 
as  rapidly  disappearing.  One  of  the  most  hopeful  indi- 
cations of  the  dissolution  of  the  "Alaska  tie-up"  is  found  in 
the  natural  process  by  which  the  ruthless  embargo  is  being 
dissolved.  The  mountain  is  falling  or  sinking  from  atten- 
tion by  its  own  abnormal  weight,  plainly  demonstrating 
that  the  whole  matter  rose  from  political  conditions,  and 
never  did  exceed  the  status  of  psychological   creation. 


The  unmistakable  indication  of  an  open  door  to  the 
development  of  the  great  Alaskan  coal  fields,  which  already 
is  beginning  to  characterize  the  active  policy  of  the  Wil- 
son Administration,  is  inspiring  new  life  and  energy  in 
private  enterprises  begun  one,  two  and  three  years  ago, 
on  behalf  of  coal  and  other  developments  in  that 
Territory,  and  is  creating  new  plans  and  giving  rise  to 
many  new  undertakings  on  the  same  lines.  This  new 
activity   already   is   extending  to   various    sections    of   the 


GOVERNMENT'S  PROGRAM— COAL  LANDS  207 

Pacific  Northwest,  especially  the  State  of  Washington. 
Among  numerous  new  enterprises  born  of  this  more  liberal 
policy  towards  Alaska  which  are  taking  form  in  this  state, 
on  lines  of  the  coal  industry  may  be  noted  the  recent  con- 
clusion of  arrangements  for  the  expenditure  of  several  mil- 
lions of  dollars  for  the  further  development  of  the  Glacier 
anthracite  coal  fields,  situated  twenty-five  miles  from  Bell- 
ingham. 

This  enterprise  includes  six  coal  claims  in  the  district 
named,  and  is  mentioned  in  this  place  for  the  reason  that 
these  claims  until  recently  constituted  items  in  the  con- 
tested claims  controversy,  covering  about  1,000  acres.  This 
property  recently  was  the  cause  of  a  bitter  fight  between 
those  who  sought  to  obtain  it  and  the  national  forestry 
service,  before  the  Land  Department  of  the  government. 
In  this  case  the  forestry  agents  were  defeated  and  the 
claims  were  ordered  to  patent. 

Thus,  again  it  is  seen  that  in  the  measure  in  which 
undue  forestry  domination  is  overcome,  industrial  wealth 
producing  progress  is  stimulated.  It  is  not  that  enterprise 
should  be  encouraged  at  the  cost  of  destroying  the  forests 
of  the  country,  because,  in  this  case,  as  in  most  others, 
where  forestry  oflScials  have  interfered  to  prevent  mining 
operations,  little  or  no  timber  was  involved. 

This  more  reasonable  policy  of  the  National  Govern- 
ment, in  distinguishing  between  the  relative  values  of  tim- 
ber and  coal,  soon  will  greatly  increase  productive  industry 
in  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  Northwest  generally. 


It  is  well  understood  that  the  same  liberal  policy  is  to 
be  carried  out  regarding  the  many  at  present  valuable  but 
idle  water  power  locations  in  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  North- 
west. This  announcement  will  be  received  with  rejoicing 
by  many  who  have  been  defeated,  in  the  past  few  years,  in 
their  laudable  plans  for  the  material  development  of  the 
countrv. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM. 


Seattle^s  Gains — Importance  of  Visits  of  Secretary  Lane 
AND  Secretary  Redfield  to  Seattle — Activity  of  the 
Railway  Engineering  Board  —  Prospective  Nitrate 
Plants — What  the  New  Era  Will  Produce — Phe- 
nomenal Growth  of  Seattle — Program  for  General 
Developments — The  Seattle  and  Alaska  of  the 
Near  Future.         

IT  may  be  said  that  from  the  beginning  of  1914,  the  Na- 
tional Government's  Program  for  the  development  of 
Alaskan  resources,  industries  and  transportation  facil- 
ities assumed  a  decidedly  Seattle- Alaskan  viewpoint.  At  the 
beginning  of  the  new  movement,  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary 
of  the  Interior,  visited  the  Coast  and  gave  his  assistance  to 
the  work  already  in  progress  of  securing  the  Alaska  gov- 
ernment railroad.  The  announcement  made  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  his  plans  concerning  Seattle  and  Alaska  included 
several  things  which  had  been  indicated  before  his  visit 
to  the  Coast.  At  that  time,  however,  these  were  in  an 
embryonic  state  and  it  was  not  until  he  had  thoroughly 
considered  the  situation  that  he  resolved  not  only  to  carry 
out  all  of  them  but  to  extend  his  program  to  include  mat- 
ters even  more  important. 

It  was  later  announced  that  the  advantages  of  the 
new  program  of  prosperity  which  would  bear  directly 
upon  Seattle  progress,  to  stimulate  it,  would  be  as  follows: 

Seattle  will  be  separated  from  San  Francisco  in  the 
marine  inspection  service  and  made  the  center  of  a  new 

(208) 


VIEW  OF  WRAXGELL,  ALASKA 

Photo   copyright   by   W.    H.    Case.  Courtesy 


W.    P.    &   T.    R. 


VIEW  OF  KETCHIKAN,  ALASKA 

Photo    by    Curtis    &    Miller. 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM  209 


jurisdiction,  with  this  city  as  headquarters  of  the  super- 
vising inspector  and  his  corps  of  assistants,  and  Alaska 
will  be  included  in  the  new  district. 

An  administrative  headquarters  of  the  Bureau  of  Fish- 
eries in  Seattle  with  a  deputy  commissioner  in  charge  for 
Puget  Sound,  and  probably  for  Alaska.  The  headquarters 
of  the  superintendent  of  salmon  fisheries  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  will  be  removed  from  Oregon  City  to  Seattle.  Sup- 
plies for  the  government  hatcheries  and  fishing  stations 
will  be  purchased  in  Seattle  instead  of  San  Francisco, 
Extensive  fish  propagation  will  be  carried  on  in  the  State 
of  Washington. 

The  headquarters  for  the  fur  seal  industry  in  Alaska 
will  be  removed  from  San  Francisco  to  Seattle.  Seal  skins 
already  are  being  shipped  to  Seattle  and  supplies  for  the 
government  stations  are  to  be  purchased  in  this  city. 

The  Bureau  of  Domestic  and  Foreign  Commerce,  which 
closely  cooperates  with  customs  officials  and  exploits  trade 
markets  and  the  products  of  different  sections,  also  will 
be  established  in  Seattle. 

The  department  greatly  will  increase  the  efficiency  of 
the  coast  and  geodetic  survey  work.  Alaskan  waters  will 
be  wire-dragged  and  three  new  survey  vessels  will  be 
asked  from  Congress  to  complete  a  definite  and  exhaus- 
tive survey.  Alaska  will  have  the  largest  lighthouse  tender 
in  the  service  of  the  government  to  cost  |325,000.  Approxi- 
mately $60,000  will  be  expended  in  placing  buoys  and  other 
aids  to  navigation. 

Necessity  for  a  new  building  to  house  the  many 
branches  of  the  Department  of  Commerce  promised  Seattle 
was  indicated  by  the  Secretary  as  not  far  distant. 

The  foregoing  plan  was  not  all  made  public  until 
the  visit  to  Seattle  of  Secretary  of  Commerce  William  C. 
Redfield,  which  occurred  early  in  1914.  He  followed  Sec- 
retary Lane  to  the  Coast  as  part  of  the  plan  by  which  the 
departments  of  the  Federal  Government,  charged  with  the 


Sig.   14. 


210  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

t.isk  of  improving  the  public  service  in  the  Far  Northwest, 
should  become  fully  acquainted  with  the  needs  of  this  sec- 
tion of  the  country.  In  many  respects  the  visit  of  Mr. 
Redfield  to  Seattle  was  of  great  importance  to  the  National 
Government  and  to  the  Pacific  Coast.  He  delivered  sev- 
eral addresses  in  the  city,  in  one  of  which  he  said : 

"America  is  entering  upon  a  new  era  which  will  have 
for  its  standard  not  the  dollar-mark,  but  the  man.  The 
condition  of  the  workers  will  be  improved,  boys  and  girls 
will  be  taught  to  become  self-supporting  and  the  nation 
will  stride  ahead  along  industrial  and  commercial  lines 
in  a  manner  which  will  astound  the  world. 

''^Ye  are  now  in  the  midst  of  the  third  great  period 
of  development  in  this  country.  We  have  learned  some 
dreadful  lessons.  We  have  come  to  a  finer  realization  of 
greater  values  than  those  of  cash.  Now  the  eyes  of  the 
country  have  been  opened  for  the  first  time  to  a  sense  of 
the  value  of  men. 

"We  are  beginning  to  realize  that  we  must  not  only 
teach  our  children  the  knowledge  of  the  head,  but  of  the 
hand.  We  are  learning  that  the  thing  most  valuable  is 
ourselves.  The  nation  does  not  exist  for  a  part  of  us, 
but  for  all  of  us.  The  man  in  the  forest,  the  mine,  the 
factory,  is  becoming  just  as  valuable  to  the  country  as  the 
man  who  employs  them.  They  may  no  longer  run  their 
industries  so  that  they  will  prosper  at  the  expense  of  men." 

In  another  address  he  said:  "Taking  the  lid  off 
Alaska,  and  it  seemed  high  time  to  take  it  off,  through 
the  means  of  a  government  constructed  railroad  in  Alaska, 
is  an  event  of  great  national  importance.  Alaska  will  be 
opened  for  good.  It  will  no  longer  lie  in  comparative  isola- 
tion from  the  rest  of  the  nation. 

"We  see  visions  of  a  great  outpouring  of  agricultural, 
mineral  and  marine  products  from  this  treasure  land,  and 
the  people  of  the  Northwest,  with  their  accustomed  energy, 
undoubtedly  will  do  their  part  in  the  development  of 
Alaska.     *     *     * 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM  211 

"Suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  railroad  lines  of  com- 
munication to  the  East  and  South  should  not  operate  to 
this  city  for  a  month.  Imagine  the  isolation  of  the  North- 
west, and  then  compare  this  isolation  and  your  prosperity 
with  Alaska's  isolation  and  coming  future! 

"It  has  been  unfortunate  that  it  has  been  diflScult  some- 
times for  those  at  Washington  to  look  beyond  the  Rockies. 
We  of  the  East  need  you  of  the  West,  and  you  need  us. 
I  believe  that  the  Democratic  party  has  done  much  to 
break  down  this  barrier  between  you  and  us,  as  evidenced 
in  the  passage  of  this  important  railroad  measure,  and 
the  fact  that  seven  cabinet  members  have  visited  the 
Northwest,  and,  including  Secretary  Bryan,  eight  have 
visited  the  Coast. 

"If  I  am  correctly  informed,  the  Assistant  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  will  be  here  next  month;  Secretary  Lane  ex- 
pects to  come  next  summer;  the  Commissioner  of  Fish- 
eries, according  to  present  plans,  will  be  here  in  June,  and 
I  expect  to  come  back  myself  for  a  considerable  stay 
later  on." 

He  outlined  the  plans  of  his  department  to  safeguard 
the  Alaskan  coast  in  the  construction  of  lighthouses,  coast 
and  geodetic  survey  boats  and  additional  aids  to  naviga- 
tion. He  announced  that  a  biological  laboratory  for  the 
Bureau  of  Fisheries  would  be  established  in  the  Northwest, 
and  a  supervising  inspector  of  hulls  and  boilers  would 
take  up  headquarters  here,  divorcing  this  district  from 
California. 

In  an  account  of  one  feature  of  Secretary  Redfleld's 
visit,  one  of  Seattle's  leading  daily  papers  said:  "An 
analysis  of  the  plans  and  capabilities  of  Uncle  Sam,  Em- 
pire Builder,  would  be  a  fair  caption  to  the  wonderfully 
interesting  and  convincing  address  made  last  evening  by 
Secretary  Redfield  at  a  banquet  tendered  him  at  the 
Rainier  Club.  The  Secretary  spoke  with  the  optimism 
of  the  successful  business   man  that  he   is,  and  with  the 


212  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

judgment  of  his  wide  experience.  Nor  did  he,  while  pic- 
turing the  great  future  of  Seattle,  neglect  to  tell  his 
hearers  in  plain  language  their  duties  to  the  Nation. 

*'If  you  and  I,  as  business  men,"  he  said,  "were  sent  to 
do  a  particular  job,  we  would  first  look  over  the  work  to 
be  done,  then  ascertain  the  necessary  tools  required,  and 
then  proceed  to  provide  ourselves  with  those  tools.  We 
in  the  Cabinet  approach  our  tasks  in  that  very  manner,  but 
the  trouble  is  that,  owing  to  the  laws  of  the  land,  we  must 
proceed  slowly. 

"After  surveying  the  job  and  ordering  the  tools  we 
must  wait  for  Congress  to  provide  the  money  for  the  pur- 
chase of  those  tools.  And  thus  it  is  that  in  preparing  for 
better  surveys  of  the  Alaskan  coast  and  for  better  handling 
of  the  fisheries  of  the  North  Pacific,  our  bureau  can  plan 
and  advise  and  recommend,  but  it  must  wait  for  Congress 
to  act." 

Another  of  Seattle's  great  dailies,  speaking  of  his 
visit  to  the  city  and  the  force  of  his  addresses,  said: 
"Ascendancy  of  Seattle  as  the  commercial  metropolis  of 
the  Pacific  Coast,  the  gateway  to  Alaska  and  the  Orient 
and  the  natural  site  for  the  greatest  world-market  of  the 
Nation  outside  of  New  York  City,  was  forecasted  by  William 
C.  Redfield,  Secretary  of  Commerce,  in  closing  today  a  so- 
journ of  three  days  in  this  city.  The  recognition  accorded 
Seattle  by  Secretary  Redfield  was  unanimously  pronounced 
the  most  important  in  the  city's  history  since  Franklin  K. 
Lane,  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  came  to  Seattle  and  as  a 
direct  result  lent  his  assistance  to  the  securing  of  the 
Alaska  Government  Railroad." 


The  appointment  of  Bo  Sweeney  of  Seattle  as  Assis- 
tant Secretary  of  the  Interior,  recently,  is  another  event 
which  gives  a  Seattle  cast  to  the  Government's  program 
for  the  development  of  Alaska.  Mr.  Sweeney  is  an  able 
exponent  of  both  Seattle  and  Alaska,  and  his  elevation  to 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM  213 

this  important  position  will  give  a  Seattle  emphasis  to 
Pacific  Coast  progress  during  the  remainder  of  the  admin- 
istration of  Secretary  Lane. 


The  first  movement  under  the  Alaska  Kailroad  law 
was  the  appointment  of  William  C.  Edes,  Lieut.  Fredrick 
Mears,  and  Thomas  Riggs  to  constitute  the  Alaska  Engi- 
neering Commission  to  take  charge  of  surveying  and  lo- 
cating the  new  Government  railroad  in  the  Alaskan  Ter- 
ritory. This  Commission  at  once  assembled  in  Seattle, 
where  headquarters  were  opened  in  one  of  the  office  build- 
ings of  the  Puget  Sound  metropolis;  thus,  in  a  general 
way,  Seattle  became  the  headquarters  of  government  rail- 
road construction  in  Alaska. 

The  Commission  lost  no  time  in  selecting  a  staff  of 
assistant  surveyors  and  engineers,  together  with  workmen 
and  supplies,  and  almost  immediately  sailed  for  one 
of  the  harbors  on  Prince  William  Sound.  The  first 
party  to  leave  was  headed  by  Engineer  W.  C.  Guerin. 
It  sailed  for  Portage  Bay  early  in  June,  in  the  Alameda, 
which  made  her  first  trip  to  that  place  to  discharge  the 
men,  horses,  instruments  and  equipment.  This  point,  it  is 
generally  believed,  will  be  the  tidewater  terminal  of 
Alaska's  main  trunk  railroad.  Engineer  Guerin  is  to  make 
a  topographical  map  of  the  eleven-mile  pass  that  separates 
the  waters  of  Passage  Canal  from  those  of  Cook  Inlet. 
This  pass  has  already  been  examined  and  found  to  be  prac- 
ticable. 

A  large  body  of  picked  men  accompanied  Mr.  Guerin, 
as  also  the  other  engineers  who  followed  a  little  later. 
W,  C.  Edes,  chairman  of  the  Government  Railroad  Engi- 
neering Commission,  will  have  personal  charge  of  the  lo- 
cation work  on  the  section  from  Portage  Bay  to  Susitna. 
"We  will  do  all  we  can  this  summer,"  he  said.  "There  are 
a  lot  of  questions  involved  and  we  are  using  a  big  force 
of  men  so  as  to  solve  these  problems  as  rapidly  as  pos- 


214  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

sible."  Mr.  Edes,  who  is  a  noteworthy  locating  engineer, 
will  establish  his  base  of  supplies  at  Ship  Creek,  on  Cook 
Inlet. 

Thus,  it  is  seen  that  the  Engineering  Commission  ap- 
pointed under  the  new  Alaska  Railroad  law  already  is  on 
the  ground  in  Alaska,  and  at  work.  The  Government  lost 
no  time  in  inaugurating  an  active  campaign  to  carry  out 
the  provisions  of  the  new  legislation,  and  the  people  of 
the  country  may  rest  assured  that  location  and  construc- 
tion work  will  be  pushed  with  the  greatest  possible  speed 
until  the  new  trunk  line  is  in  operation. 


Another  Seattle-Alaska  viewpoint  of  the  new  move- 
ment for  the  development  of  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  North- 
west rises  upon  the  horizon  of  progress  in  the  creditable 
announcement  that  more  than  ten  millions  of  dollars  are 
ready  for  investment  in  hydro-electric  plants  in  Alaska  as 
soon  as  the  water  power  leasing  bill,  now  before  Congress, 
is  enacted  into  law.  It  is  stated  that  ''already  a  small 
amount  of  development  work  has  been  done  on  Speel  River 
at  Snittersham,  forty  miles  from  Juneau,  on  a  power  site 
that  will  be  used  for  the  manufacture  of  nitrates,  ammonia 
and  other  hydro-electric  products.  These  can  be  made  there 
cheaper  than  at  any  other  place  in  the  world.  The  people 
behind  the  proposition  are  ready  to  begin  work  on  a  large 
scale  immediately  on  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

Within  a  few  years — not  more  than  three  or  four  at 
the  most — Alaska  each  year  will  add  to  its  mineral  wealth 
several  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  nitrates.  Gov.  J.  F.  A. 
Strong  of  Alaska  recently  declared  that  had  the  country  not 
been  swept  by  the  craze  of  conservation,  millions  of  dollars 
that  have  been  sent  from  the  Western  states  to  Norway 
and  to  the  plants  at  Niagara  Falls  would  have  gone  to 
Alaska. 

"More  than  |5,000,000  worth  of  nitrates  were  shipped 
to  the  port  of  Seattle  last  year  from  Norway.     Had   the 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM  215 

Territory  of  Alaska  not  been  mismanaged,  this  material 
would  have  come  from  Alaska.  The  market  for  nitrates 
in  the  Western  States  and  in  the  islands  of  the  Pacific  is 
enormous,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  nitrate  produc- 
tion of  Alaska,  within  a  few  years,  will  rival,  in  value,  the 
gold  yield  of  the  Territory. 

"There  is  now  before  Congress  a  bill  that  provides  for 
the  leasing  of  the  water  powers  of  Alaska  for  a  period  of 
fifty  years  with  option  of  renewal.  If  this  bill  is  enacted 
into  a  law,  not  one,  but  many,  nitrate  plants  will  be  in- 
stalled. Alaska  has  a  super-abundance  of  the  necessary 
lime — whole  mountain  ranges  of  it,  in  fact — and  it  has  the 
shipping  facilities  and  the  best  water  power  in  the  world. 
One  of  the  principal  purposes  of  my  recent  journey  to 
Washington  was  to  advocate  the  passage  of  the  water 
power  leasing  bill. 

"This  talk  of  conserving  the  water  supply  of  Alaska 
is  the  veriest  hysteria.  There  can  be  no  conservation  in 
allowing  the  water  to  run  to  waste  in  the  ocean,  where  it 
never  can  be  reclaimed.  True  conservation  would  be  to 
conserve  and  utilize  its  energy.  Water  power  is  a  contin- 
uous production.  It  does  not  wear  out,  and  it  will  be 
there  forever.  The  harnessing  of  the  energy  that  is  now 
running  to  waste,  while  the  people  of  the  United  States 
send  millions  of  dollars  to  a  foreign  country  for  the  ni- 
trates which  it  could  produce,  is  anything  but  conserva- 
tion. The  money  expended  for  nitrates  should  be  kept 
among  our  own  people." 


Falcon  Joslin,  author  of  the  foregoing  three  paragraphs, 
the  famous  pioneer  of  Fairbanks,  in  a  recent  visit  to  Se- 
attle, said:  "In  Alaska  and  in  the  State  of  Washington 
are  tremendous  deposits  of  iron,  some  of  them  carrying  a 
very  high  percentage  of  manganese.  Because  no  coking 
coal  is  available,  except  that  in  Alaska,  these  ore  beds  are 
not  mined.     Those  who  do  a  little  smelting  on  the  Pacific 


216  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Coast  import  their  coke  from  Australia  and  in  some  cases 
from  Belgium,  A  little  coke  has  been  brought  from  Penn- 
sylvania, but,  coke  being  bulky  and  difficult  to  handle,  it 
is  cheaper  to  import  the  steel. 

''It  is  highly  probable  that  one  of  the  big  industries  of 
Alaska  in  the  future  will  be  the  manufacture  of  steel,  and 
the  sooner  the  coke  is  available  the  sooner  will  a  start  be 
made.  In  Norway  and  Sweden,  the  manufacture  of  steel 
is  a  big  industry.  There  is  no  reason  why  the  same  is  not 
true  of  Alaska.  The  Territory  has  both  the  iron  ore  and 
the  coke." 


There  is  in  the  Seattle-Alaska  viewpoint  of  the  new 
Alaska  movement,  now  partly  under  way,  by  the  Federal 
Government,  several  important  prospects  which  give  prom- 
ise of  realization  within  a  reasonably  short  period  of  time. 
These  may  be  enumerated  in  the  following  order: 

1.  A  new  era  of  prosperity  for  Seattle  in  which,  and 
probably  within  the  next  ten  or  fifteen  years,  its  popula- 
tion, its  wealth,  and  its  industrial  and  commercial  impor- 
tance will  be  nearly  if  not  even  more  than  doubled,  with  a 
corresponding  growth  and  development  of  all  Puget  Sound 
points,  and  the  more  favored  districts  of  Washington,  Ore- 
gon and  California. 

2.  An  epoch-making  increase  in  the  transportation 
and  commerce  of  the  North  Pacific,  as  well  as  of  the  carry- 
ing trade  of  transcontinental  railroads  running  from  the 
Northeast,  the  East,  the  Southeast  and  the  South  into 
Seattle. 

3.  The  phenomenal  rise  of  a  great  new  city  on  the 
borders  of  the  most  available  harbor  at  the  head  of  Prince 
William  Sound  in  Alaska. 

4.  The  realization  of  a  great  ocean  and  land  trans- 
portation line  connecting  Seattle,  the  new  city  on  Prince 
William  Sound  and  Fairbanks.  This  may  be  a  Govern- 
ment owned  and  a  Government  managed  highway  of  com- 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  PROGRAM  217 

mercial  industry,  both  as  to  its  ocean  and  Alaska  land  divi- 
sions. It  will  raise  Fairbanks  to  great  commercial  and 
industrial  importance  and  create  several  cities  along  the 
line  of  the  land  division  and  those  of  its  branches. 

5.  The  building  of  other  Alaska  rail  transportation 
lines  and  highways,  and  the  settlement  and  development, 
both  as  to  agriculture  and  all  other  industries  for  which 
the  great  Territory  is  adapted,  of  the  Kuskokwim,  Yukon, 
Tanana,  and  other  river  valleys  and  basins. 

6.  A  vast  increase  in  the  population  of  Alaska  and 
a  wonderful  economic,  ethical,  educational  and  social  de- 
velopment of  its  people. 

7.  A  phenomenal  growth  of  commerce  between  Alaska 
and  Seattle,  and  between  both  of  these  points  and  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  United  States,  the  Orient,  and  by  means 
of  the  Panama  Canal  and  the  transcontinental  railway 
systems,  with  European  countries. 

8.  The  establishment  of  vast  smelting  plants  in 
Alaska,  which,  by  means  of  cheap  fuel,  many  mines  and 
millions  of  tons  of  pay  ore  now  lying  unused  or  still 
buried  in  the  crust  of  the  earth,  will  pour  great  riches  into 
the  pockets  of  the  needy  of  many  nations. 

9.  The  inauguration  of  large  iron  and  steel  industries 
in  Alaska,  and  at  convenient  points  in  the  North  Pacific 
country. 

To  these  features  many  others  of  nearly  equal  impor- 
tance might  be  added ;  and  should  these  things  be  realized, 
even  in  part,  within  a  reasonable  period,  a  grateful  people 
will  not  fail  to  credit  the  sagacity,  bravery,  skill  and 
honest  earnestness  of  Franklin  K.  Lane,  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior, who  now  .appears  to  be  doing  his  duty  in  a  broad, 
statesmanlike  manner  regardless  of  politics.  Nor  will  the 
people  forget  that  behind,  and,  in  some  respects,  above  this 
able  man,  loyally  stands  President  Wilson,  who  discovered 
and  called  him  to  the  great  task. 


CHAPTER    XXV. 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915. 


March  of  Empire  from  Europe  to  America,  and  from 
THE  East  to  the  West  of  America — Near  Future 
Rise  of  the  West  and  Alaska — The  Commercial  Con- 
quest OF  THE  Pacific  to  Engage  the  Friendly  Ener- 
gies OF  Japan,  China  and  America — The  Rush  to 
Alaska  in  1915  Predicted. 


ALASKA  suflfered  a  period  of  inactivity  and  stagna- 
tion from  1910  to  the  beginning  of  1914.  The  vari- 
ous causes  responsible  for  this  unfortunate  condi- 
tion already  have  been  suflBciently  explained.  The  open- 
ing of  1914  marks  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  progress 
for  the  Northland  Territory.  This  is  because  the  policy 
of  the  present  National  Administration  provides  for  a  new 
and  more  vigorous  program  of  development  of  resources, 
industries  and  commerce  in  the  Pacific  Northwest,  Alaska 
and  on  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  policy  is  wonderfully  op- 
portune because  its  advent  is  contemporary  with  the 
opening  of  the  Panama  Canal,  which  signalizes  a  new  de- 
parture in  the  progress  of  all  the  Pacific  countries,  Occi- 
dental and  Oriental. 

It  becomes  plain  that  the  Panama  Canal,  on  the  one 
hand,  and  Alaska,  on  the  other,  with  the  hardy,  indomi- 
table pioneers  which  inhabit  the  Pacific  States  lying  be- 
tween, will  unite  in  this  new  program  of  development, 
until  the  supremacy  of  the  Pacific  is  established  and  the 
Oriental  nations  are  transformed ;  and,  that  while  our  East 
of  America  will  continue  to  prosper,  the  Pacific  West  will 

(218) 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915  219 

rise  vastly  superior  to  it,  in  industrial  and  commercial 
importance.  The  wisdom  of  the  Wilson  Administration, 
and  the  sagacity  of  Franklin  K.  Lane,  its  able  Secretary  of 
the  Interior,  consist  in  a  discovery  of  these  plainly  visible 
land  marks  of  progress,  and  of  conforming  public  policy  to 
harmonize  with  them. 

The  government  strenuously  is  at  work  inaugurating 
and  carrying  forward  its  grand  new  program  for  the 
more  speedy  development  of  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  States. 
The  engineering  corps  is  on  the  ground  in  Alaska  locating 
a  railroad  transportation  system ;  Congress  is  pressing 
forward  legislation  for  the  better  government  of  Alaska,  for 
the  more  equitable  regulation  of  its  timber,  coal  and  agri- 
cultural lands  and  water  powers,  and  for  the  improvement 
of  its  harbors,  with  more  efficient  aids  to  navigation.  These 
things  will  be  accomplished  this  year,  or,  some  of  them, 
early  in  1915.  In  the  latter  year,  construction  work  will 
succeed  the  railroad  location  enterprises  of  this  year,  and 
a  vast  army  of  men  and  teams,  with  power  machinery, 
will  cover  Alaska  in  the  prosecution  of  transforming 
barriers  to  travel  into  highways  of  transportation.  Thou- 
sands of  farmers  from  Northern  Europe  and  the  older 
portions  of  Northern  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of 
Canada  will  flock  to  Alaska  to  take  advantage  of  the  open, 
^  free  agricultural  lands ;  and  the  writer  hopes  that  Congress 
will  provide  the  means  of  assisting  them  in  this  movement. 

Along  with  this  great  influx  of  population,  mining  and 
other  industrial  undertakings  will  receive  a  new  impetus 
in  Alaska,  and  in  the  whole  Pacific  Northwest.  In  this 
awakening,  the  people  of  Mexico,  among  whom  it  is  be- 
lieved peace  will  have  been  established,  will  turn  their 
energies  from  the  pursuit  of  war,  to  internal  development 
work,  and  add  the  wonderful,  undeveloped  wealth  of  that 
great  country  to  the  general  flow  of  the  riches  of  Alaska 
and  the  Pacific  States  to  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is 
certain  that  as  this  development  proceeds,  in  some  way, 
the  people  of  Mexico  will  be  awakened  from  the  pursuit 


220  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

of  idleness  and  rebellion  to  the  peaceful  industry  of 
developing  the  great  natural  wealth  of  their  vast  empire. 

The  Panama-Pacific  Exposition  takes  place  in  San 
Francisco  in  1915.  It  will  be  a  fitting  emphasis  of  the 
great  movement  here  so  feebly  described,  but  from  the 
nature  of  the  national  prospect,  which  it  will  voice, 
it  will  be  as  much  a  celebration  of  the  new  opening  of 
Alaska,  as  of  the  inauguration  of  the  Panama  Canal 
service. 

There  has  been  too  much  said  in  and  out  of  the  press 
of  the  United  States  concerning  alleged  conflicts  of  national 
interests  between  this  nation  and  Japan.  The  new  opening 
of  Alaska,  and  the  rise  of  the  Pacific  States  will  dissolve 
this  imaginary  war  cloud,  and  reveal  to  the  world  the 
natural  interrelationship  of  abiding  friendship  between 
Japan  and  this  country.  This  new  movement  of  far  west- 
ern development  means  a  closer  union  of  material  interests 
between  the  Orient  and  the  Occident. 

The  commercial  supremacy  of  the  Pacific  will  bind  to- 
gether in  a  strong  commercial  alliance  Japan,  China  and 
America,  and  this  consummation  is  sure  of  realization 
within  a  decade.  In  destiny,  Japan  is  our  closest  friend. 
It  remains  only  for  the  United  States  to  work  out  this 
natural  relationship  by  a  wise  diplomacy,  based  upon  the 
new  commercial   requirements  of  the  two   countries. 

This  grand  prospect  is  illuminated  by  what  I  can  see 
as  a  great  movement  of  population  and  capital  from  the 
East,  in  both  America  and  Europe,  to  the  West,  and 
to  Alaska  in  1915.  It  surely  must  take  place.  It  will 
come  to  overtax  the  capacities  of  the  transcontinental 
railroad  lines  of  America,  and  the  ocean  conveniences  of 
transportation  between  Seattle  and  Alaska.  It  will  come 
not  only  because  of  the  enjoyments  to  be  realized  at  the  San 
Francisco  Fair,  but  because  of  the  wealth  to  be  secured  in 
Alaska;  and  there  are  good  grounds  for  saying  that  the 
latter  will  prove  the  predominating  attraction.  The  suc- 
cess of  the  exposition  is  assured  by  the  more  substantial 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  li)15  221 

Alaskan  opportunities.  Many  will  go  to  the  fair  who  will 
not  go  to  Alaska,  but  thousands  will  go  to  Alaska 
who  will  have  neither  the  time  nor  the  means  to  devote 
to  the  pleasurable  attractions  at   San   Francisco. 

And  thus,  the  new  era  of  material  prosperity  in  Alaska 
and  the  Pacific  Northwest,  will  be  inaugurated  in  1915. 
It  certainly  will  mark  a  wonderful  new  beginning  of 
progress  in  Seattle. 


It  is  to  be  observed  that  the  agricultural  attractions  of 
Alaska  already  are  receiving  attention.  It  is  reliably  re- 
ported that  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  homesteaders,  says 
the  Seattle  Times  in  a  recenfTssue,  have  been  taken  up  in 
the  Matanuska  and  Susitna  Valleys  in  the  month  of  June. 
More  than  400  farmers  are  scattered  through  the  country 
looking  for  favorable  locations.  These  are  the  first  of  the 
great  band  of  American  farmers,  which,  it  is  anticipated, 
will  have  made  their  home  in  Alaska  within  the  next  few 
years.  Many  of  them  have  returned  to  Seattle  to  ship  their 
stock  and  farming  implements,  while  others  are  building 
cabins  and  cutting  hay  for  the  coming  winter. 

One  of  the  discoveries  made  by  the  farmers  is  that  these 
sections  of  the  country  are  overrun  with  a  wild  potato  vine, 
which,  it  is  claimed,  carries  a  large  amount  of  starch  and 
a  small  percentage  of  saccharine,  and  resembles  the  sweet 
potato.  It  is  believed  that  this  is  the  plant  that  forms  a 
large  part  of  the  food  eaten  by  the  herds  of  moose  and 
other  wild  game  animals  that  here  have  their  habitat. 

Axel  Olsen,  formerly  of  Nome,  who  had  been  in  this 
country  twenty  years,  headed  a  party  of  Washington  farm- 
ers, all  of  whom  took  up  homesteads.  He  returned  to  Se- 
attle a  few  days  ago  to  ship  a  number  of  prize  Holstein  and 
Jersey  stock  and  a  complete  farming  equipment.  He 
brought  with  him  samples  of  the  wild  potato,  alfalfa  and 
bluestem  hay.  He  will  return  on  one  of  the  first  boats 
to  Knik  and  cut  about  100  tons  of  wild  hay  for  the 
winter. 


222  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

''This  is  the  best  agricultural  country  I  ever  have 
seen,"  Olsen  said,  ''and  not  the  least  of  its  attractions  is 
that  no  irrigation  is  needed.  It  is  quite  as  good  as  the 
best  farming  land  I  have  seen  in  Washington,  Oregon  or 
California.  I  met  Bob  Bittner,  who  was  formerly  super- 
intendent for  the  Wild  Goose  Company  at  Nome.  He 
grew  cabbages  last  year  which  reached  seventeen  pounds 
each,  and  he  didn't  plant  them — just  scattered  the  seed 
on  the  ground  in  the  spring  before  going  out  prospecting. 
He  found  a  splendid  crop  when  he  returned.  Billy  El- 
liott, known  as  'Billy,  the  Horse,'  also  has  taken  up  a 
farm,  and  so  have  the  Danielson  brothers  and  many  other 
Northerners. 

"The  prospectors  in  that  country  let  their  stock  run 
on  the  range  all  winter  and  feed  on  the  open  range.  While 
the  local  fodder  makes  them  fat,  they  do  not  work  well 
upon  it.  It  is  my  judgment  and  that  of  a  number  of 
stockmen  whom  I  met  in  the  country  that  a  few  years 
will  see  thousands  of  cattle  on  the  hills  in  the  Cook  In- 
let country.  It  is  the  best  grass  country  I  ever  have  seen, 
and  the  climate  is  more  temperate  than  that  of  Montana 
or  North  and  South  Dakota. 

"Next  year  I  will  plant  a  number  of  acres  of  grain 
and  beets  and  other  roots,  and  I  expect  to  be  able  to 
grow  several  tons  of  rutabagas  this  year." 


Kecent  reliable  reports  from  Alaska  not  only  indicate 
that  the  new  prosperity  already  has  started  in  the  great 
wonderland,  but  strongly  emphasize  the  things  most  need- 
ed to  perpetuate  it.  People  of  Seattle  returning  from  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  Territory,  who  recently  have  visited 
it,  report  that  already  business  is  increasing.  One  says 
that  the  deposits  in  the  Bank  of  Seward  have  increased 
over  150,000  since  the  passage  of  the  Alaska  railway  bill, 
and  that  there  never  was  felt  more  confidence  by  Alaskans 
as  to  the  future  of  the  country  than  at  the  present  time. 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915  223 

New  people  are  arriving  in  Alaska,  and  many  former 
residents  already  have  returned  to  the  country,  especially 
in  Cordova,  Valdez  and  Seward, 

Cordova  has  organized  an  information  bureau  to 
answer  the  numerous  inquiries  being  received  from  various 
parts  of  the  East  and  Middle  West,  The  mining  pros- 
pect about  Valdez  is  very  encouraging.  The  Granby 
Company  has  taken  over  the  Middle  mine  near  Valdez  and 
has  a  considerable  force  of  men  already  at  work.  It  is 
said  that  this  property  soon  will  become  a  steady  ship- 
per to  the  new  Granby  smelter  at  Anyox,  or  Portland 
Canal,  There  already  are  a  number  of  such  evidences  of 
actual  renewal  of  activity,  but,  of  course,  for  the  greater 
part,  the  animation  is  based  upon  the  future  prospects 
rather  than  anything  that  has  yet  materialized. 

But  the  people  of  Alaska  realize  that  railway  construc- 
tion alone  will  not  bring  about  the  prosperity  of  the 
country.  The  thing  absolutely  necessary  is  the  opening 
of  the  coal  fields,  and  they  are  impatiently  waiting  for  the 
passage  of  a  workable  leasing  bill.  The  reports  from 
Washington  City  on  this  behalf  have  recently  created 
considerable  anxiety  in  the  Territory,  because  there  ap- 
pears to  be  some  foundation  for  doubting  whether  Con- 
gress will  pass  a  bill  which  will  meet  the  needs  of  the 
situation, 

A  very  important  feature  is  the  manufacture  of  coke. 
An  assured  supply  of  coke  at  a  reasonable  cost  would 
mean  copper  smelters,  or  matting  plants  along  the  Alaska 
coast  where  the  lower  grade  ores  could  be  mined  and 
treated  on  the  ground  at  a  profit. 

One  recent  report  says:  "Mining  development  has 
made  steady  progress,  however,  in  a  quiet  way,  even  dur- 
ing the  past  few  years.  The  advent  of  the  Granby  com- 
pany bids  fair  to  become  as  important  in  the  copper  fields 
as  the  new  companies  in  the  gold  mines  at  Juneau,  How- 
ever, their  smelter  is  on  the  British  Columbia  side  by 
Portland  Canal.     We  will  have  no  copper  smelters  operat- 


224  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ing  in  Alaska  until  Alaska  coke  is  made  available.  The 
two  idle  smelters  on  the  Alaska  coast  have  tried  with 
disastrous  results  to  smelt  ores  with  British  Columbia 
and  Australian  coke." 


Says  Governor  Strong,  "the  agricultural  possibilities 
of  Alaska  are  not  a  myth:  it  has  vast  areas  of  land  suit- 
able for  agriculture,  dairying  and  stock-raising  purposes." 
Experiments  have  shown  that  the  soil  will  respond  abun- 
dantly to  the  efforts  of  the  farmer;  that  dairying  can  be 
carried  on  profitably,  and  that  the  possibilities  for  stock- 
raising,  especially  in  Western  Alaska,  are  such  as  to  in- 
vite the  careful  attention  of  the  stock  raiser. 


The  development  of  vegetable  crops  in  Alaska  is  at- 
tracting attention.  Alaskans  are  beginning  to  realize  that 
the  stiif  prices  they  pay  for  provisions,  especially  fresh 
vegetables,  in  the  States,  entitle  them  to  a  quality  of 
goods  superior  to  what  they  receive.  That  it  is  almost 
impossible  to  ship  soft  vegetables  or  fruit  from  the  chief 
distributing  points  in  the  United  States  in  an  acceptable 
condition,  is  also  beginning  to  impress  itself  upon  the 
people  of  that  territory.  As  a  result,  they  have  chosen 
the  only  solution  to  the  question,  that  of  raising  their 
own  vegetables,  on  a  small  scale  at  present,  to  be  sure, 
but  one  which  is  yearly  increasing  and  promises  to  soon 
place  the  entire  territory  on  the  map  as  an  agricultural 
as  well  as  mining  country. 

This  is  the  assertion  of  L.  C.  Willy,  United  States 
mineral  surveyor  and  United  States  deputy  surveyor  in 
Alaska,  who  has  just  returned  from  an  official  visit  to  the 
territory.  Mr.  Willy  states  that  the  vegetables  received 
in  the  North,  no  matter  how  well  packed  at  Southern 
markets,  are  almost  flavorless  when  they  reach  their 
destination  and  as  such  enormous  prices  are  paid  for  the  com- 
modities, the  people  have  at  last  conceived  the  idea  of  be- 
coming self-sustaining  as  far  as  this  is  possible. 


VIEW  OF  SITKA,  ALASKA 

Photo   by   Curtis   &    Miller.  Courtpsy    W.    P.    &    Y.    R. 


JUNEAU— CAPITAL  OF  ALASKA 
Photo   by   Curtis   <t    Miller.  Courtesy   W.    P.    &    Y.    R. 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915  225 

"When  the  agricultural  possibilities  of  Alaska  are 
discussed,  the  argument  at  once  drifts  to  the  finest  farm-  / 
ing  land  in  the  country,  that  on  Cook  Inlet,"  he  said. 
"Not  so  far  north  that  its  products  will  be  affected  by  the 
extreme  cold  of  the  winter  and  just  near  enough  to  the 
cities  in  the  barren  sections  to  make  the  shipment  of  its 
products  to  these  places  a  matter  of  a  few  hours  or  a 
day  at  the  most,  its  location  is  ideal  as  the  source  of 
Alaska's  vegetable  supply.  The  Cook  Inlet  territory 
could  grow  garden  truck  enough  to  supply  all  the  miners 
of  the  North. 

"The  land  in  that  district  is  equal  to  the  best  on  the 
American  continent.  Black  and  rich  as  any  found  between 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Arctic,  it  has  the  individual 
quality  of  being  exceptionally  light,  allowing  the  root 
vegetables  which  grow  in  it  to  mature  to  enormous  sizes 
and  at  the  same  time  solid  and  juicy.  Although  many 
miles  from  the  ocean,  it  is  at  sea  level  and  because  of  this 
fact,  a  continuous  supply  of  moisture  is  furnished  to  the 
growing  plants.  The  summers  there  are  long  and  warm 
while  the  winters  are  mild  and  short.  More  favorable 
agricultural  conditions  would  be  hard  to  find. 

"As  Seattleites  are  probably  aware,  vegetables  from 
Knik,  Alaska,  took  first  prize  among  the  vegetables  of 
that  country  at  the  Alaska- Yukon-Pacific  Exposition  in 
Seattle.  Cook  Inlet  was  not  then  developed  as  an  agricul- 
tural center  but  has  since  been  credited  with  having  pro- 
duced superior  stock  to  any  before  raised  in  Alaska. 


"With  many  men  entering  Alaska  with  the  one  pur- 
pose in  view  of  developing  the  agricultural  possibilities  of 
the  country,  it  seems  that  Alaska  will  soon  no  longer  de- 
pend upon  shipments  for  her  vegetable  supply,  but  will 
startle  the  world  by  the  quality  and  enormous  quantity 
of  her  individual  output.  That  Alaska  will  ship  vegetables 
in  the  near  future  is  a  prediction  made  by  many  who  realize 
the  size  of  the  agricultural  movements  in  the  North." 


\ 


226  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Among  the  many  other  items  at  hand  showing  that 
the  new  prosperity  of  Alaska  already  is  in  evidence  may 
be  mentioned  reports  from  Southeastern  Alaska  indicat- 
ing the  growth  of  towns  in  that  section.  One  dependable 
report  says:  "Juneau's  population  has  doubled  in  the 
last  two  years  and  is  now  approximately  5,000,  while  Ketch- 
ikan also  is  going  ahead,  building  a  cold  storage  plant 
and  concrete  business  blocks,  and  otherwise  assuming 
metropolitan  airs.  Juneau  is  rapidly  becoming  one  of 
the  livest  cities  on  the  Coast." 

The  same  report  continues:  "An  immense  amount  of 
development  work  is  under  way  for  the  Alaska  Juneau 
Mining  Company,  the  Gastineau  Mining  Company  and 
the  Ebner  Mining  Company."  Similar  good  news  comes 
from  Ketchikan  and  other  Southeastern  Alaska  points. 


The  claim  that  Alaskan  prosperity  entered  upon  a 
new  and  more  promising  era  simultaneously  with  the 
removal  of  the  political  lid  w^hich  had  been  placed  upon 
its  resources  prior  to  1913  is  clearly  and  strongly  sup- 
ported by  the  report  of  the  customs  district  of  Wash- 
ington for  the  first  ten  months  of  the  fiscal  year  which 
closed  on  June  30,  1914.  This  report  marks  an  increase 
of  11,539,549  over  the  first  ten  months  of  the  1913  fiscal 
period.  Kecords  compiled  by  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor  and  received  at  the  Seattle  custom 
house  on  June  30,  reveal   this  tremendous  increase. 

Steadily  increasing  each  month,  the  total  value  of  north 
bound  Alaskan  commerce  through  this  district  reached  |14,- 
105,689,  during  the  ten  months  intervening  from  July  1, 1913, 
to  April  30,  1914.  In  the  corresponding  ten  months 
of  the  preceding  fiscal  year,  the  value  of  Alaska  com- 
merce from  this  district  was  $12,566,140. 

It  is  also  revealed  in  the  report  that  the  customs  dis- 
trict of  Washington  handles  at  least  six  times  as  much  of 
Alaska's  import  commerce  as  all  of  the  remaining  districts 
of   the    Pacific    Coast   combined.      San    Francisco,    Oregon 


PROBABLE  RUSH  TO  ALASKA  IN  1915  227 

and  Southern  California  together  handled  only  approxi- 
mately 12,300,000  Alaska  trade  in  ten  months,  while  Wash- 
ington's total,  as  has  already  been  given,  is  in  excess  of 
$14,000,000. 

San  Francisco,  Seattle's  closest  rival  for  Alaska  trade, 
makes  a  small  showing  in  comparison  with  the  stupendous 
record  of  the  Washington  customs  district.  In  the  period 
covered  by  the  report,  San  Francisco's  trade  amounted  to 
but  12,514,734  and  the  percentage  of  increase,  when  com- 
pared with  the  previous  year,  is  remarkably  small,  the 
total  increase  in  value  amounting  to  $168,699. 

Exports  from  the  Washington  district  to  all  countries 
during  the  first  ten  months  of  the  fiscal  year  were  $48,657,- 
335,  and  imports  were  $45,844,940.  These  figures  reveal  a 
condition  found  only  in  a  few  of  the  customs  districts  of 
the  United  States  where  the  rule  has  been  for  the  value 
of  imports  to  exceed  the  value  of  exports.  This  district 
is  shown  as  doing  more  than  her  share  to  keep  the  bal- 
ance between  imports  and  exports  on  the  export  side  of 
the  ledger. 

Reports  covering  the  entire  fiscal  year  which  ended 
June  30,  1914,  will  not  be  available  for  several  months,  as 
figures  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  must  be  as- 
sembled and  compiled  before  an  oflScial  report  can  be 
published. 


CHAPTER    XXVI. 


THE  LID  ON  AND  THE  LID  OFF  POLICIES. 


Prosperity  op  the  Great  Pacific  Northwest  Wholly 
Dependent  Upon  the  Attitude  of  Congress — Attitude 
of  the  East — The  Short  Sighted  Policy  of  Eastern 
Interests — Continuation  of  the  Educational  Cam- 
paign OF  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  Much 
Needed.  

THIS  great  movement  for  the  economic  development 
of  the  Pacific  West,  opens  to  the  people  a  vast 
number  of  new  industrial,  business,  commercial  and 
speculative  opportunities,  of  a  variety  and  character  which 
surely  will  relieve  the  depression  until  now  so  generally 
and  severely  felt  throughout  the  country.  Mining  opera- 
tions in  Alaska,  both  as  to  coal  and  the  precious  metals, 
at  once  will  multiply  and  this  increased  activity  will 
spread  to  the  State  of  Washington. 

Seattle,  as  the  chief  trading  metropolis  of  the  North 
Pacific  country,  will  extend  its  borders,  expand  its  already 
commodious  dockage  system,  multiply  its  storehouses,  in- 
crease the  number  of  its  oflSce  buildings,  greatly  add  to 
its  attractive  residence  areas,  improve  and  enlarge  its 
internal  and  suburban  rapid  transit  systems,  increase  and 
improve  its  already  efficient  educational  institutions,  per- 
fect its  municipal  government,  secure  a  multiplication  of 
its  transportation  facilities  on  both  land  and  water,  double 
its  present  population  of  over  313,000,  in  a  reasonably  short 
period,  and  long  before  the  middle  of  the  present  century 
is  reached,  become  one  of  the  greatest  industrial  and 
commercial  cities  of  the  United  States. 

(228) 


THE  LID  ON  AND  THE  LID  OFF  POLICIES  229 

Great  iron  and  steel  industries  will  rise  in  Alaska  and 
on  the  borders  of  Puget  Sound,  and  shipbuilding  will 
rise  to  a  first  place,  at  several  locations  in  the  districts 
named.  It  plainly  is  seen  from  what  has  been  said  that 
a  new  and  greater  demand  will  be  created  for  the  profit- 
able prosecution  of  this  last  named  industry.  This  is  the 
greatest  need  of  the  nation  today. 

But  what  section  of  the  United  States  and  what  class 
©f  people  of  its  population  will  this  wonderful  develop- 
ment most  benefit?  The  East,  and  those  who  now  con- 
trol the  main  arteries  of  industry,  trade  and  commerce, 
of  course!  It  will  require  more  than  one  generation  to 
transfer  the  financial  source  of  the  United  States  from 
New  York  to  Seattle  and  San  Francisco.  Indeed  this 
never  may  be  achieved.  Westward  progress  does  not 
naturally  contemplate  such  a  thing.  On  the  contrary,  when 
progress  has  established  Seattle  and  San  Francisco  as 
the  financial  sources  of  a  new  Orient,  New  York  will  still 
remain  the  source  of  financial  strength  and  control  of 
Seattle  and  San  Francisco. 

The  East,  so  far  as  the  Eastern  policy  has  found 
expression  in  Congress,  concerning  the  immediate  devel- 
opment of  Alaska  and  the  Great  Far  West,  is  manifestly 
very  short  sighted.  It  is  the  source  of  the  wealth  of  the 
nation  that  is  travelling  westward  in  America,  and  not  the 
wealth  itself. 

The  expenditure  of  millions  of  dollars,  and  even  hun- 
dreds of  millions  of  dollars  by  the  National  Government 
for  the  purpose  of  providing  transportation  facilities  for 
Alaska,  in  order  that  its  vast  resources  may  be  developed, 
constitutes  the  most  profitable  investment  that  the  nation 
can  make  for  the  people  of  the  East  and  Central  divisions 
of  the  country,  because  the  more  rapidly  the  far  West  is 
peopled  and  its  wonderful  resources  exploited,  the  more 
swiftly  will  the  wealth  of  the  East  accumulate.  It  is  a 
short  sighted  argument,  I  say,  which  pits  the  resources 
of  the  East  against  the  early  develoi)ment  of  those  of  the 


230  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

West,  in  an  etfort  to  maintain  the  industrial,  commercial 
and  financial  supremacy  of  the  East,  by  holding  the  mar- 
kets of  the  world  for  an  exclusive  eastern  output,  as 
against  the  products  of  the  West.  The  gains  in  wealth  to 
the  nation  do  not  flow,  and  can  not  rise  any  more  from 
eastern  than  western  products,  not  even  so  far  as  eastern 
traders  and  bankers  are  concerned.  Eastern  producers 
may  find  vent  for  a  selfish  policy  in  this  respect,  but  so 
far  as  it  is  permitted  to  triumph,  in  that  same  measure 
the  nation  as  a  whole  must  suffer. 

It  certainly  falls  short  of  a  wise  national  policy 
to  hold  back  the  natural  wealth  of  the  far  West,  until 
the  natural  resources  of  the  East  are  drained  to  the  dregs. 
On  what  ground  of  national  polic}^  should  the  coals  of 
Alaska  and  Washington  be  held  beneath  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  until  all  the  coals  of  the  East  have  been  mined 
and  consumed,  especially  when  it  adds  more  than  twenty 
per  cent  to  the  cost  of  eastern  coals  to  haul  them  to  the 
Pacific  Slope?  On  what  foundation  of  national  economy 
can  we  find  support  for  the  doctrine  that  far  western 
timber  should  be  left  to  age  and  decay  in  Alaskan  and 
Pacific  States  forests,  until  the  last  stick  of  timber  in 
the  East  has  been  converted  into  lumber  and  marketed? 
There  is  a  natural  demand  of  international  commerce 
greater  than  those  of  sectional  requirements,  and  a  policy 
which  prevents  any  locality  from  reaching  the  world's 
markets  with  its  products  is  a  detriment  to  the  nation  as 
a  whole  in  which  such  locality  is  contained. 

Because  the  East  is  deficient  in  fishery  resources  to 
supply  the  demands  of  European  markets,  not  a  voice  is 
raised  against  the  development  of  Pacific  Coast  fisheries, 
either  for  local  consumption  or  export,  but  when  it  comes 
to  coals  and  timber,  and  other  classes  of  products  which 
the  East  still  is  able  to  supply,  in  some  measure,  a  dis- 
position is  manifested  to  protect  these  products,  to  the  dis- 
advantage of  the  West,  in  order  to  maintain  abnormal 
and  unnatural   prices. 


THE  LID  ON  AND  THE  LID  OFF  POLICIES  231 

Surely  the  time  had  come  in  the  West  to  take  the  lid 
off  the  natural  resources  of  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  North- 
west, and  it  must  be  a  matter  of  congratulation  to  the 
far  western  people,  to  say  the  least,  that  the  Wilson  Ad- 
ministration has  committed  itself  to  a  program  which 
includes  this  procedure,  even  at  the  risk  of  offending  the 
timber,  coal,  iron  and  steel  barons  of  the  East. 

These  very  brief  observations  will  disclose  to  the 
average  reader  the  real  foundation  for  the  great  era  of 
material  prosperity  for  the  Pacific  Northwest  and  Alaska 
predicted  in  this  and  the  preceding  two  chapters.  It  is 
not  because  the  natural  resources  abound  in  this  great 
part  of  the  country,  merely,  but  because  they  are  now 
to  be  politically  unlocked,  if  you  please,  that  these  opti- 
mistic predictions  are  made.  This  phase  of  the  problem 
is  far  more  important  than  appears  on  the  surface.  The 
"lid  on"  policy  has  prevailed  towards  the  Mountain  and 
Pacific  States  and  Alaska  for  a  long  period — prevailed 
until  during  the  past  few  years  a  pall  of  stagnation  has 
spread  over  the  whole  western  country.  This  poverty 
stricken  condition  quickly  will  disappear  if  the  "lid  off" 
policy,  now  being  inaugurated,  is  fully  established  and 
persistently  maintained. 

The  railroads  which  in  the  late  years  have  struggled 
against  adverse  legislation  could  not  reasonably  have 
been  expected  to  raise  a  voice  against  Eastern  interference 
with  far  Western  developments  of  natural  resources,  since 
it  has  been  to  their  gain  to  carry  coals,  steel  and  the 
whole  variety  of  ready  made  uses  to  the  West,  rather 
than  to  have  encouraged  the  rise  of  great  manufacturing 
industries  in  the  Pacific  territories.  The  "lid  off"  program 
means  not  only  the  exploitation  of  the  vast  natural  re- 
sources of  the  Pacific  West,  but  the  development  of  man- 
ufacturing industries  in  great  volume  and  variety  in 
Alaska,  Washington,  Oregon  and  California. 

It  is,  I  repeat,  upon  the  ground  that  this  "lid  off" 
policy    of    Secretaries    Lane    and    Kedfield    will    be    fully 


232  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

established  and  uninterruptedly  maintained  that  these 
predictions  of  the  almost  immediate  prosperity  of  the  Pa- 
cific West  will  be  realized.  If  there  be  any  failure,  or 
reversal  of  economic  policies  in  this  behalf,  the  prospect 
here  set  forth  in  such  glowing  terms  soon  again  will  become 
clouded,  and  the  Western  country  will  fall  back  into  its 
recently  accustomed  inactivity.  The  Seattle  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  rising  above  political  considerations  of  a  party 
nature,  has  performed  a  most  wonderful  service  for  the 
West  and  for  the  nation,  in  its  achievements,  by  way  of 
an  educational  campaign  during  the  past  two  years,  but 
as  already  stated,  if  that  body,  and  the  forces  affiliated 
with  it  now  assume  an  attitude  of  finished  work,  a  great 
error  will  be  committed.  The  grand  work  thus  far  achieved, 
at  best,  constitutes  only  a  beginning.  The  campaign  must 
be  continued,  else  failure  will   overtake  success. 

It  is  useless  to  close  our  vision  to  the  reasonable  ex- 
pectation that  a  strenuous  effort  will  be  made  in  the 
East  this  year,  1914,  and  in  the  two  years  following,  to  so 
change  the  complexion  of  Congress  and  the  government  of 
the  nation,  that  this  ''lid  off"  policy  will  find  a  speedy 
substitution  in  the  old  "lid  on"  program.  This  somewhat 
natural  but  sectionally  selfish  tendency  of  Eastern  interests 
is  due,  of  course,  to  widespread  prejudice  which  rests  upon 
the  need  of  a  greater  and  better  knowledge  of  the  natural 
capabilities  of  Alaska  and  the  Pacific  West  generally. 
This  condition  should  be  overcome  by  a  continuation  of 
the  campaign  of  education  begun  by  the  Seattle  Chamber 
of  Commerce  with  results  already  splendid  to  behold. 
One  naturally  turns  to  this  body  for  even  a  more  extended 
effort  than  it  yet  has  made  on  account  of  the  grand 
effects  of  what  it  has  accomplished,  already  realized  by 
the  people  of  the  United  States. 


As  an  example  of  the  tendency  of  Eastern  and  South- 
ern congressmen  to  keep  the  "lid  on"  in  Alaska,  on  June 
15,    1914,    when    Delegate    Wickersham,    of    Alaska,    tried 


THE  LID  ON  AND  THE  LID  OFF  POLICIES  233 

to  have  his  bill  passed  repealing  the  law  taxing  railroads 
in  Alaska  |100  a  mile,  objections  were  heard  from  mem- 
bers from  Connecticut  and  Louisiana  and  other  Eastern 
States,  some  of  them  with  amendments  which  would  have 
destroyed  the  good  efifects  of  the  bill.  As  it  was  "unan- 
imous consent"  day  the  bill  was  ruled  out.  It  is  useless 
to  deny  that  there  is  an  Eastern  element  in  Congress,  back- 
ed by  certain  Southern  influences,  which  is  seeking  to 
obstruct  Alaskan  legislation  in  the  interests  of  sectional 
classes.  The  Alaska  railroad  taxation  law  is  a  detri- 
ment to  Northwestern  progress  and  should  be  repealed. 


Since  the  foregoing  was  written  the  bill  above  referred 
to  has  become  a  law. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


THE  GREAT  YUKON  VALLEY. 


The  Yukon  and  the  Kuskokwim  —  Inland  Navigation 
Routes — Mail  Service  Summer  and  Winter — Time 
AND  Distances — The  Commerce  op  Interior  Alaska 
— Tables  of  Distance. 


THE  valley  of  the  Yukon,  and  its  tributary  rivers,  was 
little  known  until  1883.  The  Russian  Church  had 
established  a  few  isolated  missions  upon  the  lower 
waters  of  the  Yukon  and  Kuskokwim  rivers  and  venture- 
some voyageurs  of  the  Hudson's  Bay  Company  had  entered 
the  valley  from  the  East  but  the  temper  of  the  natives  and 
natural  obstacles  pretty  effectively  prevented  any  extensive 
explorations  from  the  West,  while  the  lofty  and  rugged 
mountains  of  the  eastern  and  southern  boundaries  inter- 
posed a  barrier  long  considered  impassable  even  by  the 
most  adventurous.  Yet  from  the  latter  quarter  the  first 
invasion  of  the  Y'ukon  eventually  came.  Gold  was  dis- 
covered at  Stewart  River  on  the  Canadian  side  in  1883, 
and  in  1884,  as  we  have  seen,  the  first  rush  spread  over 
this  region.  It  was  the  incentive  of  gold,  of  course,  which 
induced  white  people  to  enter  the  country.  This  is  not 
a  cause  of  much  wonder  when  it  is  considered  that  Alaska 
has  produced  over  1200,000,000,  and  the  Canadian  Yukon 
over  1150,000,000   since   that  time. 

Today  the  Northern  Navigation  Company  operates 
a  fleet  of  thirty-two  steamers  and  thirty-five  barges,  to- 
talling nearly  30,000  tons,  on  the  Yukon  and  tributary 
rivers.     Over  three  thousand  five  hundred  miles  of  inland 

(234) 


THE  GREAT  YUKON  V ALLEY  235 

waterways  are  traversed,  and  residents  along  and  adjacent 
to  these  streams  depend  almost  entirely  upon  this  fleet, 
and,  to  some  extent,  upon  competing  vessels,  for  mail  and 
general  transportation  service.  The  principal  routes  cov- 
ered up  to  this  time  are: 

St.  Michael— Dawson  „ 1601  miles 

Dawson — Fairbanks 975  miles 

ST.  ^lichaef — Fairbanks   1176  miles 

St.  Michael— Bettles  1150  miles 

St.  Michael — Diskaket  700  miles 

St.  Michael — Iditarod  708  miles 

Bethel— Tacotna   529  miles 

The  Northern  Commercial  Company  maintains  a  chain 
of  stores  and  warehouses  along  the  valleys  of  the  Yukon 
Eiver  and  its  tributaries.  These  stations  are  located  as 
follows : 

St.  Michael,  Alaska On  Bering  Sea 

Andreaofsky,  Alaska On  Yukon  River 

Dikeman,  Alaska  On  Iditarod  River 

Iditarod,  Alaska  On  Iditarod  River 

Nulato,  Alaska On  Yukon  River 

Bettles,  Alaska  On  Koyukuk  River 

Wiseman,  Alaska  On  Koyukuk  River 

Alatna    (Marsans),   Alaska On  Koyukuk  River 

Ruby,  Alaska  On  Y'^ukon  River 

Tanana,  Alaska  On  Yukon  River 

Hot   Springs,   Alaska, On  Tanana  River 

Fairbanks,  Alaska  On  Tanana  River 

Circle,  Alaska On  Yukon  River 

Eagle,    A^u^}^a    .^..'. On  Yukon  River 

Forty  Mile,  Yukon  Territory,  Canada On  Yukon  River 

Dawson,  Yukon  Territory,  Canada On  Yukon  River 

Georgetown,  Alaska On  Kuskokwim  River 

Tacotna,  Alaska  On  Tacotna  River 

At  all  points  are  carried  large  stocks,  comprising 
complete  assortments  of  groceries  and   provisions,  mining 


236  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

implements  and  machinery,  hardware  and  such  other  sup- 
plies as  are  necessary  to  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  resi- 
dents of  the   country. 

Agents  and  storekeepers  are  chosen  for  their  experience 
in  camp  and  on  trail,  hence  are  highly  competent  to  select 
stocks  and  offer  valuable  suggestions  to  inexperienced 
purchasers. 


Summer  Mail  Service. — At  the  present  time,  during 
the  season  of  open  navigation,  June  1  to  September  30, 
mail  reaches  the  interior  of  Alaska  via  St.  Michael  and  the 
lower  Yukon,  and  via  Skag-way,  Dawson  and  the  upper 
Yukon.  This  service  is  so  frequent  that  to  await  specific 
sailings  is  unnecessary,  mail  deposited  at  any  time  cer- 
tainly being  forwarded  within  three  or  four  days.  From 
Seattle  the  time  in  transit  in  summer  for  mail  to  im- 
portant points  is  approximately: 

Nome  8  days 

St.  Michael _ 9  days 

Fairbanks    16  days 

Tanana   _ 14  days 

Eampart  14  days 

Circle    12  days 

Eagle 11  days 

Dawson 9  days 

Iditarod    15  days 

Winter  Mail  Service. — During  winter,  mails  for  Fair- 
banks and  vicinity,  for  Tanana,  for  Eampart,  for  points 
on  the  Yukon  below  Rampart,  for  Bettles  and  all  Koyukuk 
River  points,  for  Innoko,  Iditarod  and  Kuskokwim  River 
points,  for  St.  Michael  and  for  Nome  and  vicinity,  are 
despatched  from  Seattle  six  times  monthly  by  steamer  to 
Cordova,  thence  by  Copper  River  and  Northwestern  Rail- 
way to  Chitina  and  thence  by  horse-stage  to  Fairbanks 
and  Tanana.  Below  and  above  Tanana,  service  is  by  dog- 
team.     Points   on    the   upper   Y^ukon,    including    Dawson, 


THE  GREAT  YUKON  VALLEY  237 

Forty  Mile,  Eagle  and  Circle,  are  served  via  steamer  to 
Skagway,  rail  to  White  Horse,  horse-stage  to  Dawson  and 
dog-team  to  points  beyond.  Time  from  Seattle  to 
important  points  is : 

Via  Cordova — 

Fairbanks    „ 14  days 

Tanana  19  days 

Rampart  20  days 

Bettles 24  days 

St.  Michael 36  days 

Nome  „ 40  days 

Iditarod    34  days 

Via  Dawson — 

Dawson  10  days 

Forty  Mile  11  days 

Eagle  12  days 

Circle „ 15  days 

Telegraph  Communications  to  practically  all  interior 
points  excepting  Bettles,  may  be  had  the  entire  year  over 
the  wires  of  the  Signal  Service  of  the  United  States  Army 
by  means  of  submarine  cable  from  Seattle  to  Valdez  by 
way  of  Sitka  and  land  lines  serving  most  of  the  Territory. 
A  wireless  system,  also  controlled  by  the  Signal  Service, 
is  very  eflScient,  stations  being  maintained  at  Eagle,  Circle, 
Tanana,  Fairbanks,  Kotlik,  St.  Michael,  Nome,  Kaltag, 
Nulato  and  Iditarod,  while  new  stations  are  established  as 
occasion  demands.  In  event  of  temporary  suspension  of 
the  United  States  Government  service,  telegraph  communi- 
cation by  means  of  Canadian  land  lines  via  Dawson  is 
available. 

The  great  rivers  of  Central  Alaska,  as  already  stated, 
are  the  Yukon  and  the  Kuskokwim.  The  Yukon  system 
of  waterways  includes,  in  addition  to  the  mighty  Yukon 
itself,  such  important  tributaries  as  the  Tanana,  Koyukuk, 
Innoko,  Iditarod,  Chandela,  Porcupine  and  Dahl,  and  a 
large  number  of  smaller  tributaries.     This  system  drains, 


238  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

in  Alaska  and  Canada,  over  600,000  square  miles  and 
affords  more  than  4,000  miles  of  navigable  water,  3,500 
miles  of  which  are  in  Alaska  alone. 

The  importance  of  these  vast  rivers  in  their  relation  to 
the  physical  development  of  the  Territory  is  inestimable. 
They  are  the  only  highways  giving  access  to  the  mining 
districts  of  the  interior  during  the  summer  and  the  only 
means,  aside  from  the  telegraph,  of  intercommunication 
between  settlements.  Government  reports  show  that  mer- 
chandise valued  at  13,500,000  annually  reaches  the  mining 
camps  adjacent  to  their  banks,  and  thousands  of  travel- 
ers  traverse  their  waters. 

The  Kuskokwim. — Reference  to  the  map  shows  that 
the  Kuskokwim,  having  its  origin  in  the  Alaska  Range  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Mt.  McKinley,  follows  a  course  approx- 
imately paralleling  the  Yukon  and  empties  into  Bering  Sea 
some  two  hundred  miles  south  of  the  Yukon  delta.  The 
Kuskokwim  is  the  second  largest  of  the  Alaskan  rivers  and 
is  navigable  for  at  least  800  miles.  About  four  hundred 
prospectors  are  working  in  the  Kuskokwim  Valley  and, 
while  we  have  no  authentic  news  that  any  paying  mines 
have  been  uncovered,  prospects  are  said  to  be  very  encour- 
aging. Unlike  the  Yukon  Valley,  the  ground  here  is  not 
frozen  and  carries  much  water,  and  prospectors  should  be 
equipped  with  drills  to  facilitate  their  investigations. 


There  are  three  routes  for  reaching  the  Kuskokwim ; 
from  Bering  Sea  via  the  river  mouth,  from  the  Yukon  River 
by  portage  commencing  at  Russian  Mission,  and  by  trail 
from  Iditarod  City. 

The  First  Route. — Via  the  river  mouth  from  Bering 
Sea,  is  the  most  direct  and  should  be  used  for  freight 
shipments  whenever  possible.  The  passenger  trade  is  not 
sufficient,  however,  to  warrant  the  operation  of  passenger 
boats  on  any  fixed  schedule,  and  the  power-boats  usually 
used  to  transport  freight  furnish  a  most  uncertain  pas- 
senger service. 


THE  GREAT  YUKON  VALLEY  239 

The  Second  Route. — Via  the  portage  from  Russian 
Mission,  is  little  used,  being  both  unpleasant  and  expensive. 
Guides  and  boats  are  necessary,  for  the  way  lies  through 
swampy  country  and  follows  the  devious  windings  of 
many  sloughs,  passage  from  one  to  another  being  by  port- 
age which  must  be  crossed  by  dragging  boats  and  packing 
supplies.  Furthermore,  no  adequate  accommodation  is  to 
be  had  at  Kalkagamute,  where  the  traveler  reaches  the 
Kuskokwim.  This  route  requires  three  days'  hard  travel 
through  a  mosquito  infested  country  to  accomplish  the 
seventy  miles  from  Russian  Mission.  It  should  not  be  con- 
sidered excepting  in  emergency. 

The  Third  Route. — Via  Iditarod,  is  the  most  comfort- 
able and  reliable.  River  boats  offer  frequent  service  from 
St.  Michael  to  the  upper  Iditarod  River  and  from  Iditarod 
City  is  a  good  trail,  seventy  miles  long,  leading  to  George- 
town on  the  Kuskokwim,  where  accommodations  and  sup- 
plies may  be  obtained.  Georgetown  is  advantageously  lo- 
cated for  prospectors  in  the  Kuskokwim  Valley. 

The  Northern  Navigation  Company  has  two  river  boats 
on  the  Kuskokwim  and  the  Northern  Commercial  Company 
has  established  stores  at  Georgetown,  242  miles  above  Bethel 
— the  head  of  salt-water  navigation — and  at  Tacotna,  529 
miles  above  Bethel.  Tacotna  is  on  Tacotna  River,  a 
tributary  of  the  upper  Kuskokwim, 


TABLES   OF   DISTANCE. 


On  Yukon  River  from  St.  Michael — 

Kotlik    67  miles 

Andreaofsky    181  miles 

Russian    Mission    293  miles 

Holy    Cross    358  miles 

Anvik     405  miles 

Thompsons   450  miles 

Kaltag  570  miles 


240  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Nulato  610  miles 

Koyukuk 630  miles 

Louden    682  miles 

Melozi    715  miles 

Ruby - -- 738  miles 

Kokrines  ~ 762  miles 

Birches    ^ 846  miles 

Tanana    901  miles 

Rampart ~ 981  miles 

Fort  Hamlin _ 1072  miles 

Fort  Yukon  ~ 1224  miles 

Circle     1309  miles 

Woodchopper  Creek  1359  miles 

Eagle    - 1499  miles 

Cliff  Creek  1537  miles 

Forty  Mile,  Yukon  Territory 1548  miles 

Dawson,  Yukon  Territory 1601  miles 

On  Innoko  River  from  Holy  Cross — 

Innoko  River  Mouth 110  miles 

Iditarod    River    Mouth 160  miles 

Diskaket   - 370  miles 

On  Iditarod  River  from  Holy  Cross — 

Shageluk     - 50  miles 

Holikachuk  110  miles 

Dementi    160  miles 

Fish  Camp  240  miles 

Langley  310  miles 

Dikeman   320  miles 

On  Koyukuk  River  from  Confluence  with  Yukon- 

Dagetkaket     132  miles 

Dublikaket   175  miles 

Seattle  Point  220  miles 

Hog  River    315  miles 

Hughes    375  miles 

Red  Mountain  404  miles 

Arctic  City  457  miles 

Alatna _ - 470  miles 


>1 


SKAGWAY,  ALASKA— SOUTHERN  TERMINUS  W.  P.  &  Y.  R. 

Photo   by  Curtis   &    Miller.  Ciuirti-sy    \V.    P.    &    Y.    R. 


CORDOVA,  ALASKA— SOUTHERN  TERIMINUS  C.  R.  &  N.  RY. 


THE  GREAT  YUKON  VALLEY 


241 


Peavey  508  miles 

Bettles  540  miles 

Coldfoot    GOO  miles 

Wiseman  620  miles 

On  Tanana  River  from  Confluence  with  Yukon- 
Fish  Creek  15  miles 

Hot  Springs  70  miles 

Kantishna  River  Mouth 123  miles 

Tolovana  133  miles 

Minto  183  miles 

Nenana    198  miles 

Wood  River  218  miles 

Chena  263  miles 

Fairbanks  275  miles 

Salcha   330  miles 

Delta    350  miles 

McCarty    392  miles 

On  Kuskokwim  River  from  Bethel — 

Tooliesok  60  miles 

Yukon  Portage 100  miles 

Kolmakofsky    190  miles 

Georgetown    260  miles 

Sleitmute    295  miles 

Andranoff   385  miles 

McGrath    500  miles 

Tacotna  Forks  520  miles 

On   Bering  Sea  Coast — 

Nome  to  St.  Michael 115  miles 

Nome  to   Golovin 81  miles 

Nome  to   Topkuk 47  miles 

Nome  to  Solomon 30  miles 

Nome  to  Teller 90  miles 

Teller  to  Tin  City 35  miles 

Tin  City  to  Deering 184  miles 

Deering  to  Keewalik 22  miles 

Nome  to  Keewalik  direct 293  miles 


i(i. 


242 


ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 


On  Ocean — 

San  Francisco  to  Unalaska 2086  miles 

San  Francisco  to  Nome 2731  miles 

San  Francisco  to  St.  Michael 2846  miles 

Seattle  to  Unalaska 1727  miles 

Seattle  to  Nome 2372  miles 

Seattle  to  St.  Michael 2487  miles 

Winter  Trail  from  Chitina  to  Fairbanks — 

Chitina  0  miles 

Poplar  Lake  4  miles 

Nafsteds    15  miles 

Woodland   27  miles 

Willow  Creek  39  miles 

Copper  Center  51  miles 

Tazlina    59  miles 

Dry  Creek 67  miles 

Gulkana  _ _ 77  miles 

Poplar  Grove  89  miles 

Sourdough 99  miles 

Our   Home  115  miles 

Meiers    125  miles 

Paxsons  -.  138  miles 

McCallums    158  miles 

Millers  170  miles 

Rapids  181  miles 

Donnellys    195  miles 

Gordons  211  miles 

Sullivans  227  miles 

Delta   250  miles 

Overland  260  miles 

Salchaket 270  miles 

Thirty  Mile  House 282  miles 

Bylers    292  miles 

Sixteen  Mile  House 294  miles 

Eio-ht  Mile  House 302  miles 

Fairbanks  310  miles 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


GOLD   DREDGING  A  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY 


Placer  Mining  Advancing  From  the  Pick  and  the 
Shovel  to  the  Dredge  Machine — Great  Auriferous 
Gravel  Beds  Await  the  Touch  of  Capital — The 
Kenai  Peninsula  With  Seward  as  its  Metropolis 
Likely  to  be  the  Scene  of  Great  Dredging  Enter- 
prises IN  THE  Near  Future — Profitable  Opportunity 
for  Many  Millions, 


A  BRIEF  survey  of  some  of  the  great  industrial  and 
business  opportunities  which  this  new  opening 
of  Alaska  is  making  available  to  the  capital,  skill 
and  enterprise  of  the  people  generally,  will  prove  useful 
to  many  readers.  Men  and  women  are  writing  to  their 
friends  in  Alaska,  and  in  Seattle,  for  specific  informa- 
tion as  to  new  opportunities  in  Alaska  and  the  Pacific 
Northwest,  and  although  this  general  demand  has  been 
pretty  fully  met  on  the  foregoing  pages,  the  attempt  is 
made  here  to  supplement  this  general  information  with 
definite  explanations  as  to  the  attractions  which  one  of 
the  most  important  of  these  immediately  available  open- 
ings present,  and  in  what  way  they  may  be  made  avail- 
able. 


It  has  been  stated  in  several  places  in  this  volume 
that  dredging  in  Alaska  is  succeeding  the  old  methods  of 
placer  mining,  and  now  attention  is  called  to  the  fact 
that  this  succession  is  opening  important  new  oppor- 
tunities  to  enterprise  and  capital.     An  experienced  min- 

(243) 


244  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ing  engineer  remarked  to  the  writer  the  other  day  that 
dredging  had  become  systemized  to  such  an  extent  that 
it  has  ceased  to  be  a  mining  speculation,  and  ranks  to- 
day as  one  of  the  surest  and  most  profitable  of  in- 
dustries. Chester  F.  Lee,  editor  of  the  Alaska  and  North- 
west Mining  Journal,  is  authority  for  the  statement  that 
safe  and  gain-yielding  opportunities  now  are  available 
in  connection  with  the  dredging  business  in  Alaska.  A 
good  deal  has  been  written  about  the  auriferous  gravel 
deposits  of  the  Seward  and  Kenai  Peninsulas,  but  little  is 
really  known  as  to  the  actual  values  recovered,  for  often 
the  owner  of  a  property,  after  he  has  satisfied  himself 
of  its  value,  is  afraid  to  impart  the  information  to  his 
neighbor,  possibly  because  he  may  intend  to  later  acquire 
by  purchase  the  adjoining  ground.  Therefore,  whether 
his  holding  be  such  as  can  best  be  worked  by  hand,  by 
hydraulic  process  or  dredging,  often  is  hard  to  find  out. 
This  also  is  true  in  reference  to  dredging  companies  oper- 
ating in  Alaska,  and  though  hundreds  of  thousands  are 
annually  expended  for  dredging  equipment,  no  apparent 
reason  exists  for  such  expenditures  to  the  outsider  seeking 
an  opportunity  of  investment.  The  result  is  that  thous- 
ands of  acres  of  ground  that  would  return  handsome 
dividends  lie  idle  year  after  year,  and  the  natural  timidity 
of  the  uninformed  investor  makes  him  seek  investments 
that  will  return  him  but  six  or  eight  per  cent  per  annum 
instead  of  far  more  substantial  dividends. 

In  the  matter  of  dredging  in  California,  where  the 
industry  has  become  a  settled  line  of  enterprise,  dredg- 
ing is  yielding  these  larger  returns,  although  the  gravel 
there  will  not  average  over  seventeen  cents  per  yard. 

For  instance,  it  is  shown  that  a  man  living  in  Se- 
attle invested  in  a  dredging  company  operating  in  Oroville, 
California,  and  although  the  value  of  the  gravel  worked 
is  but  13.6  cents  per  yard,  he  has  received  regular  divi- 
dends of  5  per  cent  a  month  on  his  investments.  Dredging 
investments  in  California  are  good,  but  compare  the  value  of 


GOLD  DREDGING  A  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY  245 

13.6  cents  worked  by  this  Oroville  company,  with  the  values 
prevailing  in  Alaska,  as  evidenced  by  the  reports  of  the  Geo- 
logical Survey  bulletin,  and  it  will  be  seen  that  the  average 
runs  from  |1  to  |2  a  yard.  This  value  would  pay  at  the 
rate  of  from  30  to  40  per  cent  a  month,  and  we  know 
that  several  cases  are  on  record  far  exceeding  this  amount. 

It  is  noted  that  the  cost  of  labor,  in  Alaska,  including 
board,  "is  from  |7  to  |8.50  per  day;  therefore  labor  is 
prohibitive  for  working  gravel  that  will  not  pay  over  |3.50 
per  yard,  as  the  average  amount  of  gravel  that  can  be 
picked,  shoveled,  and  sluiced  by  the  average  man,  who  has 
to  take  care  of  seepage  water,  is  about  two  and  one-half 
yards  per  day.  The  result  is  that  these  immense  de- 
posits of  comparatively  low-grade  gravel  must  await  the 
coming  of  the  gold  dredges,  before  they  can  be  made  to  pay. 
The  values  of  this  low-grade  gravel,  although  prohibitive  to 
the  man  with  pick  and  shovel,  returns  to  the  man  who 
has  the  courage  and  foresight  to  invest  in  dredge  con- 
struction, very  large  profits,  for  the  reason  that  most  of 
these  dredges  are  operated  with  a  crew  of  three  or  four 
men,  who  at  a  cost  of  $25  to  |30  for  power,  handle,  with 
the  average  size  dredge,  1,800  to  2,200  yards  of  material 
per  day,  while  to  handle  the  same  amount  of  gravel 
v/ith  pick  and  shovel  would  require  a  thousand  men." 

An  excellent  authority  says  that  "the  average  price 
of  gold  dredges  used  in  Alaska  is  |60,000  to  $80,000,  in- 
stalled and  ready  for  work.  This  varies  some  with  the 
location  and  means  of  transportation  of  machinery  and 
lumber,  roads  often  having  to  be  built  especially  to  get  the 
machine  on  the  ground.  The  rivers  are  of  little  account  as 
a  means  of  transportation,  being  shallow,  and  there  are 
many  sandbars  to  be  encountered.  But  when  once  the 
machine  is  installed  on  ground  that  has  been  thoroughly 
tested  by  drilling  or  shafts  sunk  to  bed-rock,  and  the  aver- 
age values  proven  satisfactory,  the  expenses  are  at  an 
end  and  the  output  from  such  a  plant  soon  covers  the  cost 
of  installation  and  becomes  a  constant  soui-ce  of  income." 


246  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

During  the  experimental  period  of  these  dredges  they 
could  not  be  relied  upon  with  any  great  degree  of  cer- 
tainty, but,  in  this  age  of  their  application,  they  operate 
with  the  regularity  of  a  clock.  True,  the  heavy  construc- 
tion, owing  to  difficulties  of  transportation,  has  in  many 
cases  held  back  these  machines  from  a  more  general  in- 
stallation, but  this  now  is  being  overcome,  in  some  meas- 
ure, by  the  adoption  of  lighter  construction,  which,  while 
not  reducing  the  capacity  of  the  plant,  greatly  has  re- 
duced the  costs  of  transporting  the  device.  Touching  this 
matter,  the  Alaska  and  Northwest  Mining  Journal  says : 

''Lumber,  too,  is  an  item  of  considerable  magnitude 
when  it  comes  to  hauling  and  freighting,  requiring  for  a 
small  sized  machine  about  l(iO,000  feet,  a  great  deal  of 
which  is  long  heavy  timber.  This  feature,  too,  has  also 
engaged  the  attention  of  engineers,  and  hulls  of  sectional 
construction  have  been  built  and  found  to  fill  all  require- 
ments, the  advantage  being  the  saving  in  cost  of  trans- 
portation by  the  use  of  short  timber  and  steel,  which 
also  reduces  the  weight  thirty-five  per  cent.  It  is  what 
may  be  termed  semi-steel  construction,  and  while  cost- 
ing no  more  to  build,  its  decreased  weight  reduces  freight 
charges  in  proportion. 

"There  are  drawbacks  to  continual  operations,  in 
some  instances,  owing  to  the  fact  that  several  machines 
were  installed  on  small  creeks  whose  area  could  furnish 
ground  only  for  a  run  of  four  or  five  seasons,  and  when 
this  was  worked  out  the  dredges  have  laid  idle  for  a 
year  or  two,  the  expense  and  time  required  to  move 
to  another  suitable  piece  of  ground  or  of  tearing  down 
and  rebuilding,  making  it  almost  as  great  an  undertak- 
ing as  the  first  installation.  In  the  style  of  hulls  above 
referred  to,  these  troubles  promise  to  be  reduced  to  the 
minimum,  as  the  dredge  can  be  dismantled  and  moved 
by  any  ordinary  teaming  outfit  to  any  place  without  the 
destruction  of  the  hull  or  any  other  part  of  the  frame 
work.     The  plan  has  already  been  put  to  practical  demon- 


GOLD  DREDGING  A  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY  247 

strations,  one  in  the  case  of  a  machine  carrying  a  10 
foot  bucket  line  and  in  another  case  a  3  foot  bucket  line, 
and  it  seems  applicable  to  all  stjies  and  makes  of  stand- 
ard machines." 

A  gentleman  representing  interests  of  a  local  character 
in  Alaska,  who  has  had  more  to  do  with  the  rebuilding,  haul- 
ing and  transportation  of  dredges  and  dredge  equipment 
than  any  other  man  in  Alaska,  while  in  conversation  with 
the  writer,  said:  ''It  seems  to  me  that  such  manner  of 
construction  would  be  advantageous  in  that  section,  and 
I  am  confident  that  it  would  mean  a  saving  of  many 
thousands  of  dollars  to  the  companies  that  have  already 
installed  dredges  at  Nome  that  have  worked  out  their 
ground  and  now  contemplate  moving  to  other  ground, 
providing  the  cost  of  haulage  was  not  prohibitive,  which 
this   manner  of  construction   would   overcome." 

It  is  certain  that  this  system  of  construction  will 
be  a  great  advantage  to  the  dredging  interests  of  Alaska, 
as  an  investment  that  previously  had  an  earning  power  of 
from  five  to  six  years,  will  be  prolonged  to  fifteen  or 
twenty  years. 


But  the  greatest  problem  to  be  solved  on  behalf  of 
the  Alaska  dredging  business  is  that  of  bringing  together 
this  business  and  the  required  capital,  faith  and  push 
to  carry  it  to  profitable  measures  of  progress.  Alaska 
has  an  abundance  of  rich  dredging  ground,  and  those 
who  have  discovered  and  proved  its  value  are  waiting  the 
advance  of  capital  to  relieve  them.  The  thing  now  is 
to  bring  these  dredge-placer  grounds,  with  their  owners, 
and  small  capitalists  from  the  outside  world,  together. 
Here  is  a  definite,  a  specific  opportunity, — one  which  is 
large  enough  to  employ  capital,  ranging  in  sums  from 
),000    to    .f5,000,n00    up    to    hundreds    of    millions— one 


248  ALASKA;  ITS  3IEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

which,  with  good  management,  will  pay  a  profit  of  100 
per  cent,  annually,  on  all   the  money  devoted  to  it. 

Moreover,  this  particular  industry  may  be  counted  on 
to  continue,  with  increasing  volume,  for  at  least  half  a 
century.  It  comprises  that  feature  of  the  placer  gold 
industry  which  is  the  most  abiding.  The  matter 
of  frozen  ground  is  not  considered  to  any  extent  by 
dredge  operators  there,  the  river  and  creek  beds  being 
practically  free  from  frost  except  possibly,  in  early  spring, 
for  a  week  or  two. 

"The  running  season  in  the  north  for  these  machines 
used  to  be  considered  one  hundred  to  one  hundred  and 
fifty  days,  while  the  last  season,  with  thawer  and  heaters, 
the  running  time  was  extended  from  March  30  to  Decem- 
ber 26,  giving  a  run  of  nearly  nine  months.  Our  run- 
ning period  may  soon  equal  as  many  days  as  a  machine 
will  actually  operate  in  California,  with  the  extra  ad- 
vantage that  is  afl'orded  by  the  long  days  of  continuous 
sunshine  during  the  summer  months." 

Gov.  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  when  last  in  Seattle,  said: 
"Dredging  has  been  an  unqualified  success  since  the  first 
dredge  was  taken  into  Alaska.  There  are  about  50 
dredges  working  on  the  Seward  Peninsula,  and  Seward 
Peninsula  will  be  yielding  gold  fifty  years  hence  by 
means  of  dredges,"  and  so  say  we  all. 


It  is  probable  that  the  vast  district  known  as  the 
Kenai  Peninsula,  with  Seward  as  its  rising  metropolis, 
will  become  the  scene  of  extensive  and  profitable  dredging 
operations  in  the  near  future.  The  formation  of  the 
region  is  composed  chiefly  of  slates  and  diorites.  Gold  is 
the  only  mineral  which  appears  to  be  found  in  com- 
mercial quantities,  although  there  are  traces  of  many 
other  kinds  of  metals,  such  as  copper,  antimony,  and 
lead.      The    veins    are    mostly    of    the    true    fissure    type 


GOLD  DREDGING  A  GREAT  OPPORTUNITY  249 

although  there  are  some  stringer  lodes  and  mineralized 
dikes.  The  veins  dip  at  angles  ranging  from  45  to  90 
degrees.  The  ore  appears  in  a  gangue  of  quartz  and  is 
free  milling. 

'The  first  great  rush  into  the  Cook  Inlet  country,  or 
the  northern  part  of  the  peninsula,  occurred  in  1896,  when 
some  very  fair  placer  prospects  were  discovered  and  the 
towns  of  Hope  and  Sunrise  founded.  The  great  rush  to 
the  Klondike  occurred  the  following  year,  and  the  country 
was  almost  deserted,  but  nevertheless  an  immense  amount 
of  gold  has  been  taken  out  of  the  placers  of  this  section. 
The  richest  of  these  placers  have  now  been  worked  out  and 
placer  mining  is  now  confined  to  hydraulicing  and  dredg- 
ing. The  Kenai  Peninsula  contains  vast  areas  of  dredg- 
ing ground  and  some  deals  are  now  practically  con- 
summated that  will  result  the  coming  season  in  opening 
up  parts  of  these  rich  gravels.  Professor  Parker,  former- 
ly professor  of  mining  of  the  University  of  Columbia,  is 
at  the  head  of  a  company  of  Eastern  capitalists  who  in- 
tend to  operate  here  this  year.  Professor  Parker  has 
taken  up  the  options  which  he  secured  here  in  1913. 
He  spent  the  past  season  with  a  force  of  men  prospect- 
ing this  ground  thoroughly.  The  large  interests  which 
are  back  of  the  heavy  developments  at  Juneau  are  also 
looking  to  this  field  for  an  extension  of  their  activities." 

In  the  minds  of  those  at  all  familiar  with  the  re- 
sources of  the  Kenai  Peninsula,  there  is  not  the  least 
doubt  that  this  section  is  due  for  a  tremendous  impetus 
both  in  quartz  as  well  as  dredging,  as  this  section  contains 
some  of  the  finest  dredging  ground  in  Alaska.  Seward 
is  also  regarded  as  the  natural  distributing  point  for 
the   coal   from   the   Matanuska   fields. 

The  near  future  in  all  probability  will  demonstrate 
that  gold  mining  in  Alaska  will  assume  a  new  beginning 
in   1915,   both   as   to   the  dredging  features   of   the   placer 


I 


250  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

industries  and  as  to  lode  developments.  Moreover,  pick- 
shovel-pan  mining  has  not  yet  had  its  greatest  period 
of  production.  That  new  discoveries  during  the  next 
two  years  will  astonish  the  whole  country  is  the  be- 
lief of  the  writer.  These  will  cover  both  placers  and 
lodes,  and  reach  out  to  include  other  metals,  as  well  as 
oil,  phosphates,  lime,  marble  and  other  valuable  re- 
sources. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN. 


Wonders  of  the  New  Northland — Newness  op  Alaska — 
Classification  of  Glaciers — Raptures  of  the  General 
View — Scenic  Beauties  of  Southeastern  Alaska. 


TOURISTS  sight-seeing  in  Alaska  enjoy  the  jjleasnre 
of  knowing  that  they  are  being  entertained  by  the 
newest  part  of  our  world.  Some  portions  of  our 
continent,  notably  the  Saratoga  Springs  section  and  the 
region  of  the  Black  Hills,  are  the  oldest  land  formations 
of  the  earth.  These  places  were  uplifted  from  the 
universal  sea  before  any  land  appeared  in  what  now  is 
called  Europe.  Alaska  is  a  New  Addition  to  the  Con- 
tinent of  North  America.  It  rose  volcanically,  in  fire, 
smoke  and  flame  since  the  ''Age  of  Man"  began,  and  long 
after  the  more  southern  portions  of  America  had  been 
inhabited  by  mankind. 

In  the  not  so  very  long  ago,  a  line  drawn  from  Long 
Island  Sound  to  Puget  Sound  set  northern  limits  to  the 
habitable  portion  of  North  America.  Since  that  age, 
great  magnetic  and  mountain  glaciers  have  forged  a 
drainage  system,  into  the  channels  of  which  thermal 
water  currents,  in  tidal  regularity,  over-arched  by  accom- 
panying warm  atmospheric  waves,  extending  beyond  these 
inlets  and  valleys,  have  pushed  back  the  lower  tempera- 
tures of  a  receding  sub-arctic  region,  until  the  whole 
territory  climatically  fed  by  the  Jiijcni  Current,  has 
become  habitable  with  at  least  vegetable,  and  the  stronger 
cereal  capacities  up  to  the  shores  of  the  Arctic  Ocean. 

(251) 


252  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

It  is  scarcelj'  necessary  to  state  that  a  new  land,  thus 
up-lifted  from  the  bottom  of  the  great  ocean,  and  thus 
prepared  for  the  abode  of  mankind,  naturally  must  be 
adorned  with  many  wonderful  scenic  attractions. 

One  who  wields  a  rather  graphic  pen  in  a  workshop 
of  the  Alaska  Bureau  of  the  New  vSeattle  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  writing  of  one  branch  of  this  subject,  says: 
''Alaska  is  a  country  unique  in  its  geographical  situation, 
unique  in  its  climate,  and  unique  in  its  physical  beauties. 
Point  Barrow,  its  northernmost  cape,  is  warmer  than  any 
point  in  the  world  as  far  north  of  the  equator;  and  its 
southern  shores  bordering  the  North  Pacific  Ocean  are 
likewise  warmer  than  any  point  in  the  world  in  similar  lat- 
itudes during  the  winter  months,  as  the  result  of  the 
beneficent  influence  of  the  Japan  Current.  Norway  alone 
can  approach  it  in  these  respects,  but  in  Norway  the 
mountain  backbone  runs  parallel  to  the  coast  line,  and  its 
rivers  are  insignificant  streams,  and  there  is  no  room  for 
extensive  valleys;  while  in  Alaska  the  immense  quad- 
rangle is  divided  into  three  zones  by  lofty  mountains,  on 
more  or  less  east  and  west  lines,  which  leave  between  them 
broad  plains,  through  which  such  streams  as  the  Kuskok- 
wim  with  000  and  the  Yukon  with  over  2,000  miles  of 
navigable  waters,  open  up  its  vast  interior.  Norway  and 
Sweden  are  the  Mecca  and  Medina  of  the  European  tour- 
ists, in  search  of  the  picturesque  and  sublime,  and  the 
latter  country  takes  its  annual  toll  of  American  pilgrims 
on  similar  sights  intent ;  but  Alaska  can  discount  anything 
which  these  countries  can  boast.  Its  mountains  over-top 
Mount  Blanc,  the  Jungfrau  or  the  Matterhorn ;  its  glaciers 
dwarf  the  Mer  de  Glace  and  its  puny  associates;  while 
the  fiords  of  the  Southeastern  Archipelago  do  not  suffer 
by  comparison  with  those  of  Norway,  whose  grandeur  has 
been  embalmed  in  its  sagas,  and  chanted  by  the  annual 
procession  of  sightseers ;  while  all  its  beauties  can  be  seen 
from  the  deck  of  ocean  or  river  steamer  without  the  dust 
and  discomfort  of  tedious  railroad  travel. 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  253 

"Unlike  the  glaciers  of  Switzerland  and  the  Tyrol, 
which  debouch  on  inland  valleys,  and  give  the  observer  but 
little  evidence  of  their  tremendous  power  and  vitality, 
the  energy  of  which  must  be  left  entirely  to  the  imagina- 
tion, the  largest  of  the  Alaskan  glaciers,  like  those  in 
Greenland  which  give  birth  to  the  monsters  of  the  Atlantic, 
terminate  on  the  ocean  border  or  interior  rivers,  with  tow- 
ering fronts  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet  in  height 
and  miles  in  width;  fronts  which  are  daily  pushed  forward 
by  the  titanic  force  of  gravity,  only  to  be  undermined  by 
the  waves,  broken  down  into  avalanches  of  glittering  par- 
ticles or  huge  blocks  which  fall  with  a  roar  of  thunder 
and  throw  the  spray  a  hundred  feet  into  the  air. 

"The  charm  of  the  glaciers  is  never  ending.  You  may 
watch  them  hour  by  hour,  and  yet  linger  for  some  grander 
evidence  of  their  power.  Beginning  as  mist,  kissed  by  the 
sun  from  southern  seas;  drifted  by  the  wind  to  the  North- 
land; falling  as  snow  on  the  mountain  tops;  welded 
with  other  infinitesimal  fragments  into  an  ice  unit; 
crawling  inch  by  inch  a  few  feet  annually;  carving  the 
solid  earth  with  power  irresistible,  only  at  last  to  be 
torn  in  a  moment  of  agony  from  its  associates  of  a  thou- 
sand, or  many  thousand  years,  and  sent  drifting  south, 
the  plaything  of  the  sun  and  the  waves;  only  to  be 
resolved  into  its  primary  elements — is  there  not  traged}^ 
in  the  eternal  cycle,  repeated  through  the  untold  eons 
of  the   world's   life?"  

Glaciers  are  of  two  general  classes,  called  mountain 
or  gravitation,  and  magnetic  glaciers.  The  Alaska  forma- 
tions belong  to  the  first  order  as  a  general  rule.  The 
mighty  structures  of  fresh  water  ice  which  flow  down 
the  Atlantic,  through  Davis  Straits  and  Baffins  Bay,  from 
the  Arctic,  are  of  the  magnetic  sort.  These  augment  in 
size  from  the  hour  of  their  origin  until  they  launch 
themselves  into  the  ocean.  They  are  not  the  accummu- 
lations   of   frozen    salt   water,    in    the   nature   of   products 


254  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

of  ages,  as  many  suppose.  The}'  originate  on  the  barren 
rock  formations  inland,  sometimes  many  miles  from  the 
coast,  and,  moving  towards  the  sea,  by  magnetic  force, 
turning  not  aside  from  their  general  course  for  any 
obstacle  whatever  but  carrying  their  huge  and  constantly 
increasing  bodies  of  fresh  water  ice  forward,  forging  a 
channel  in  the  solid  rock,  they,  upon  entering  the  sea, 
represent  the  growth  of  many  thousands  of  years. 

The  great  tracks  which  they  leave  behind,  generally 
about  three  hundred  feet  deep,  and  nearly  double  as 
wide,  first  are  called  inlets,  into  which  the  tides  flow, 
from  fifteen  to  fifty  feet  in  height  or  depth.  Later,  when 
the  soil  has  accreted  to  garment  their  borders,  they 
are  called  rivers.  Their  tributaries  are  chiseled  out 
in  the  same  way.  The  home  of  these  magnetic  glaciers, 
north  and  east  of  Hudson's  Bay,  is  not  mountainous.  These 
glaciers  "work"  only  in  the  darkness  of  night,  and  make 
the  greater  part  of  their  progress  in  the  long  nights  of 
the    extended    winter    seasons. 

The  writer  of  these  lines  talked  with  a  gentleman 
who  camped,  with  others,  on  one  of  these  glaciers  north- 
east of  Rose  Welcome,  the  northern  extremity  of  Hud- 
son's Bay,  about  thirty  years  ago.  He  informed  the  writer 
that  from  darkness  to  dawn  of  the  long  night,  the  glacier 
continued  to  manifest  a  wonderful  combination  of  mag- 
netic sounds,  in  the  nature  of  a  mighty  song  of  natural 
progress.  He  said  that  the  entertainment  was  grand  be- 
yond description. 

While  forging  their  tortuous  ways  to  the  ocean,  these 
mighty  glaciers  do  not  lift  their  vast  forms  above  the  sur- 
face of  the  rock  formation,  but  remain  on  a  level  with  it, 
and  are  first  discovered  by  the  long,  deep  track  which  they 
leave  behind,  and  in  which  the  water  flows  during  the  short 
summer  seasons  to  increase  their  volume  and  weight.  They 
are  covered  from  view  by  a  thin  garment  of  pulverized 
rock,  and  their  presence  is  detected  by  the  smooth,  level 
surface  which  they  present.     One  stroke  of  an  ax  or  pick 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  255 

will  reveal  the  solid  blue  ice  of  which  they  are  composed. 
I  was  within  a  few  miles  of  one  of  these  mighty  glaciers 
when  in  the  Kose  Welcome  whaling  ground  of  the  New 
Bedford  whalers,  in  1884.  It  had  advanced  to  within  half 
a  mile  of  the  coast,  and  the  geologist  of  our  expedition 
in  the  Neptune  estimated  that  it  would  enter  that  arm 
of  the  sea  in  a  little  less  than  a  thousand  years. 

Returning  to  the  gravitation  glaciers  of  Alaska,  we 
meet  with  a  different  exhibition  of  the  wonderful  processes 
of  nature.  These  glaciers  raise  their  summits  above  the 
surrounding  surface,  always  broken,  rugged  and  moun- 
tainous, and  are  plainly  visible  as  working  monuments  of 
natural  progress.  One  never  wearies  of  the  exhibition  of 
power  w^hich  they  manifest,  "against  which  the  efforts  of 
man  are  of  no  more  avail  than  those  of  a  fly  against  a 
tornado." 

When  one  of  these  ice  formations,  or  a  considerable 
portion  of  one,  is  launched  "the  peace  and  quiet  of  the 
rock-bound  fords,  clad  in  green,  with  the  snowy  peaks  of 
far-off  mountains,  gleaming  through  the  tree  tops  on  the 
sky  line  300  feet  above,  it  falls  driving  the  water  in 
mighty  waves  up  the  gravel  slope  below  you,  as  it  takes 
the  final  plunge  and  floats  away  in  the  narrow  river. 
When  the  mist  has  drifted  by,  the  dead-white  face  of  the 
ice  disappears.  The  new  dress  left  behind  glistens  with 
the  brilliancy  of  diamonds,  and  the  deeper  recesses  of 
the  facade  gleam  blue  as  a  summer  sky  unflecked  by 
clouds. 

"If  their  winding  ways  are  too  narrow  for  the  wings 
of  imagination,  there  are  sunsets  among  them  such  as  no 
painter  could  ever  put  on  canvas,  veritable  vortices  of  flame 
as  though  the  world  were  on  fire;  or  farther  north,  broad 
plains  where  the  grasses  ripple  in  the  wind  and  tlie  hills 
on  the  distant  horizon  lie  like  a  purple  haze,  leaving  the 
gazer  fancy  free  as  to  what  lies  beyond.  Even  the  sun  is 
loath  to  leave  the  scene  which  his  warmth  has  endowed 


25G  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

with  life,  and  forsakes  it  only  for  a  few  minutes  at  mid- 
night. 

"Along  the  Alaska  Peninsula  the  tourist  may  witness 
in  safety  the  ti-emendous  pent-up  energy  of  the  internal 
fires;  islands  raised  from  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  one 
year,  only  to  be  engulfed  the  next,  as  at  Bogoslof.  Vol- 
cano after  volcano  will  daily  change  the  shore  line;  first 
Makushin,  then  Pogrommi,  Shishaldin,  Pavlof,  Katmai, 
Sivanoski,  Iliamna  and  Eedoubt  will  pass  in  orderly  suc- 
cession, rising  majestically  from  8,000  to  10,000  feet  from 
the  ocean  level,  with  many  others  of  lesser  altitude  and  no- 
toriety. These  are  the  crowning  peaks  of  a  mountain 
range  which,  dividing  to  the  east,  culminates  in  Mount 
McKinley,  20,000  feet  high,  north  of  Cook  Inlet;  and 
Mounts  St.  Elias,  Fairweather  and  their  cold  virginal  sis- 
ters, grim  guardians  of  the  northern  shores  of  the  Pacific. 
These  stupendous  mountain  masses  (a  mile  taller  than 
Switzerland's  champion),  their  feet  buried  under  a  gla- 
cier which  lines  the  coast  for  more  than  a  hundred  miles, 
are  even  more  impressive  than  the  loftiest  of  the  world's 
famous  peaks,  either  in  the  Himalayas  or  the  Andes;  for 
while  these  rise  from  lofty  interior  plateaus,  the  sweep  of 
St.  Elias  is  from  ocean  to  sky,  with  nothing  to  break  the 
foreground. 

"Grand  as  is  St.  Elias,  it  is  young  geologically  among 
its  compeers,  and  is  apparently  still  growing.  In  the  inner- 
most recesses  of  Disenchantment  Bay,  the  proof  may  be 
seen  in  sea  beaches  raised  forty'  to  fifty  feet  during  the 
last  big  earthquake  in  1899,  the  barnacles  still  clinging 
to  the  polished  boulders;  while  alongside  may  be  seen  the 
buried  forests,  where  the  shores  have  sunk  beneath  the 
ocean  to  compensate  for  the  uplift. 

"Surely  the  scenic  beauties  of  Alaska,  whether  they 
be  of  earth  or  water  or  of  sky,  are  varied  enough  to  bring 
enthusiasm  to  the  lips  of  the  most  blase  traveler,  ranging 
as  they  do  from  the  sylvan  groves  of  Sitka,  which  could 
satisfy  even  the  most  timid  of  lovers,  to  broad  plains  which 


I 


SEWARD,  ALASKA— ON  THE  KENAI   PENINSULA 

Photo    by   Curtis   &    Miller. 


STREET    VIEW    Ul<'    \ALI  )!<:/,    ALASKA 
Photo   by   Curtis   &    Miller. 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  257 

whisper  of  peaceful  homes  as  the  years  go  by;  or  from 
placid  fiords  where  days  drift  idly  by,  to  exhibitions  of 
the  titanic  and  implacable  forces  of  nature  in  her  most 
terrific  moods.  Vast  as  an  empire,  there  can  be  no  such 
thing  as  ennui  in  the  everchanging  panorama;  distances 
are  forgotten,  and  the  traveler  will  soon  begin  to  under- 
stand the  lure  of  the  North,  that  intangible  something 
which  makes  the  Alaskan,  cramped  amid  the  environment 
of  civilization,  repeat  to  himself,  day  by  day,  *I  want  to  go 
back,  and  I  will.'  " 


If  the  reader  has  given  no  thought  to  the  great  task 
imposed  upon  one  who  attempts  to  describe  the  scenic 
beauties  of  Alaska,  he  or  she  is  not  able  to  sympathize 
with  the  writer  in  the  enormity  of  the  task  of  this  under- 
taking now  in  hand.  The  data,  attractive  and  in  vast 
quantity  and  great  variety  is  piled  up  to  challenge  skill 
and  energy.  From  transportation  literature  in  great  pro- 
fusion, some  of  it  written  in  most  elegant  style,  we  turn 
to  the  less  attractive,  as  well  as  less  highly  painted  pro- 
ductions of  Government  reports,  and  to  books,  each  of 
which  gives  a  new  viewpoint  to  lend  interest  to  this  pro- 
fusion. It  is  impossible  to  master  it  all.  Moreover,  some 
of  the  productions  of  the  transportation  literature  at 
hand  are  of  such  a  high  literary  quality  as  to  plainly  in- 
dicate the  presence  of  the  artist's  pencil.  I  cannot  find 
out  the  names  of  the  well-paid  writers,  and,  therefore,  am 
not  in  a  position  to  give  them  due  credit  for  these  splendid 
writings.  Nevertheless,  our  volume  would  be  incomplete 
without  them.  Here  is  one  covering  a  large  portion  of 
the  scenic  beauty  of  southeastern  Alaska,  and  the  main 
points  of  interest  in  the  ocean  trip  from  Seattle  to  that 
fair  region,  which  gleams  with  literary  excellence: 

*  A  mystic  country,  there  is  to  the  North  where  the  will- 
o'-the-wisps    are    at    play — the    sun    dogs    by    day    and  the 


*  Probably  Mrs.  Alice  Henson  of  Seattle. 


S.    17. 


258  ALASKA:  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ghost  gleams  at  night;  Northern  lights  they  have  named 
the  pale  specters  that  flit  here  and  there  in  the  sky.  And 
the  red  midnight  sun  doubles  back  on  his  track,  when  the 
year-tide  is  full,  in  that  land  where  the  sunlight  and 
shadows  are  wed. 

A  strange  land  it  is,  filled  with  contrast  and  charm. 
From  the  far  frozen  seas  it  sweeps  south,  many  leagues, 
to  the  warm  westward  isles  where  the  breath  of  the  breeze 
from  Japan  fills  the  air.  Silent  snow-fields  lie  sleeping, 
where  the  foot  of  the  fairies  may  have  danced,  but  no 
man's  foot  has  trod.  Busy  towns  spring  to  life  where 
restless  human  beings  dig  and  scramble  for  gold;  and  the 
roar  of  blasts  and  din  of  noisy  mills  shatter  the  air, 
night  and  day.  Great  cold  peaks  lift  their  pallid  faces 
against  skies  so  blue  that  it  seems  all  the  color  in  the 
world  must  have  been  spilled  there ;  painted  hills  of  the 
Yukon  rise,  like  rainbows ;  or  the  soft  heavy  greens  of 
the  coast  slopes,  with  their  filmy  mist-mantles  and  rain- 
pearls 

Strange  ice  rivers  are  there,  and  quaint  Indian  vil- 
lages tucked  away  in  the  coves;  weird  totems,  rich  baskets, 
old  carvings  in  ivory  and  slate — crude  gropings  toward  art 
by  a  primitive  race.  Strong  and  vast  is  that  land,  and  free 
and  untamed,  with  the  pulse  of  fresh  life  rising  high  in 
its  veins. 

Newest  of  all  the  corners  of  the  continent,  last  of  the 
borders  to  be  subdued — the  scene  of  action  for  tomorrow. 
Yet  ancient  and  quaint,  with  an  old-world  civilization 
transplanted  on  its  shores  a  century  and  a  half  ago,  from 
the  days  when  Baranof  was  the  "little  Czar  of  the  Pacific" ; 
when  the  bells  of  the  old  California  missions  were  cast 
in  the  foundries  of  Sitka,  and  Russian  feet  danced  to  Rus- 
sian music  in  the  castle  on  the  hill. 

Have  you  seen  that  strange  land? 

Many  days  and  long  weeks  would  be  needed  to  travel 
its  length.     Over  mountains,  along  mighty  winding  rivers. 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  259 

and  out  again  to  the  sea  one  would  go.  But  the  '*pan- 
handle"  portion  to  the  southeast  is  the  threshold ;  and  from 
here  one  may  glimpse  the  Great  Country — Alaska. 

Leaving  the  south  by  night,  the  lights  of  Seattle  on 
her  circling  hills  gleam  like  a  glittering  necklace  on  the 
throat  of  the  sea.  And  the  steamers  turn  north  with  throb- 
bing engines,  like  the  i)ulses  of  eager  seekers  for  fortune, 
who  rushed  here  in  mobs  in  the  gold  fever  of  '97. 

Waking,  in  the  morning,  the  green  shores  of  Vancou- 
ver Island  face  the  hills  of  the  mainland  across  the  water- 
way between.  The  salt  air  is  fresh,  and  tired  nerves  begin 
to  relax,  under  the  restful  hand  of  the  sea.  Sleeping  and 
eating  are  the  main  aflfairs  of  life;  and  the  brisk  constitu- 
tionals on  the  hurricane  deck,  the  pleasant  ''steamer 
friendships"  occasionally  formed,  the  dancing  after  the  din- 
ner hour,  the  walks  ashore,  the  glimpses  of  the  new  coun- 
try, give  interest  to  the  days.  The  "inside  passage,"  as  it 
is  called,  winds  through  the  protected  channels  of  the  Alex- 
ander Archipelago ;  and  the  three  stormy  places  on  the 
voyage,  where  the  open  sea  is  encountered,  are  of  a  few 
hours'  duration  only,  so  that  there  is  small  chance  of  ill- 
ness for  an  average  sailor. 

The  country  along  these  shores  is  storied  territory, 
visited  by  the  early  navigators  of  the  Pacific.  Past  Queen 
Charlotte  Sound  and  the  little  stretch  of  open  ocean,  the 
hills  grow  more  thickly  timbered,  little  cataracts  come 
tumbling  down  from  the  heights,  and  there  is  a  sense  of 
greenness,  of  unopened  country,  of  loneliness,  perhaps. 

The  boundary  of  Alaska  begins  at  Dixon  Entrance. 
And  here,  also,  in  the  popular  notion  of  the  day,  the  reign 
of  order  ceases.    We  are  told  that 

"There's  never  a  law  of  (iod  or  man 
Runs  north  of  fifty-three." 

Ketchikan,  the  first  city  of  Alaska,  however,  seems 
harmless  enough.  It  clings  partly  to  a  hillside,  with  the 
business  section  along  the  level  seashore.  The  first  port  of 
call  in  Alaska  is  one  of  the  newer  of  the  towns,  built  u]) 


260  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

as  a  center  for  a  variety  of  interests.  A  copper  district 
surrounds  it,  and  there  are  gold  prospects  also.  The  min- 
ing settlements  of  Niblack,  Hadley,  Coppermount,  Hollis, 
and  Sulzer  are  all  within  short  distances.  The  fishing 
interests  are  extensive,  this  being  one  of  the  headquarters 
of  the  halibut  industry  of  Southeastern  Alaska.  One  of 
the  finest  freezing  and  cold  storage  plants  on  the  Pacific 
Coast  is  here,  and  there  is  a  salmon  cannery  as  well.  In 
the  late  summer  months,  the  spawning  season,  the  salmon 
ascend  the  falls  of  this  creek  by  thousands.  A  board  walk 
follows  the  stream  for  miles  into  the  valley,  under  the  arch- 
ing trees.  The  first  totem  poles  to  be  seen  are  at  the  Indian 
village  on  the  outskirts  of  the  town. 

Metlakahtla  is  an  interesting  example  of  a  com- 
munal settlement.  In  1887  about  800  Christian  Indians 
of  the  Tsimpsean  tribe,  under  the  leadership  of  the  Kever- 
end  William  Duncan,  abandoned  their  village  in  British 
Columbia  in  order  to  gain  greater  religious  liberty.  Set- 
tling on  the  body  of  lands  known  as  Annette  Islands, 
Congress  later  set  apart  this  reservation  for  their  use.  A 
definite  municipal  system  of  government  was  framed,  town 
officials  elected,  and  a  school  and  church  founded.  There  is 
a  spacious  cathedral  with  a  pipe  organ.  A  postofiice, 
store,  cannery  and  sawmill  are  all  operated  by  natives. 
Father  Duncan,  the  Apostle  of  Alaska,  as  he  is  called,  has 
been  at  the  head  of  the  community. 

Wraxgell  is  the  next  stop,  after  more  winding  of  the 
way  and  sailing  past  green  shores  and  foamy  cataracts. 
Wrangell  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  Alaskan  towns,  a  mili- 
tary post  having  been  established  here  by  the  United 
States  Government  at  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  Alaska 
and  maintained  until  1887.  The  first  gold  strike  of  im- 
portance was  in  the  Cassiar  Country,  British  Columbia, 
and  as  an  outfitting  center  for  this  section,  Wrangell  grew 
to  comparative  bigness.  The  original  route  to  the  interior 
country,  also,  was  by  way  of  the  Stikine  Kiver,  opposite 
Wrangell.     There  is  a  large  sawmill  located  here,    which 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  261 

sends  its  shingles  and  lumber  all  over  Alaska.  And  here 
also  are  some  of  the  oldest  and  most  interesting  of  the 
native  totems.  *  *  *  Entering  Wrangell  Narrows 
the  banks  are  so  close  that  a  stone  could  be  thrown  ashore. 
The  water  whirls  and  eddies,  and  clouds  drift  past  in  the 
blue.  The  fair  days  are  a  study  in  color;  the  sunsets  at 
sea  paint  the  sky  with  flaming  splendor;  orange  and  ame- 
thyst, greens  and  rich  gold,  deep  blues  and  amber.  Or 
there  are  pale  days,  with  pastel  tints,  subdued  and  elusive, 
that  make  an  artist  long  for  his  brush,  and  a  writer  for 
his  pencil.  The  gulls  go  softly  along  with  the  steamer, 
with  deliberate  flight,  dropping  down  into  the  water,  or 
floating  upward  into  the  clouds. 

Petersburg  is  a  fishing  town,  and  the  headquarters  for 
a  "mosquito  fleet"  that  brings  in  halibut  in  the  winter  and 
salmon  in  the  summer.  A  cannery  and  several  salteries  are 
located  here. 

Taku  Inlet  and  the  glacier  of  the  same  name  are 
reached  after  a  run  through  Frederick  Sound  and  Stevens 
Passage,  along  the  length  of  Admiralty  Island.  There  ai*e 
two  of  the  ice-rivers,  really,  almost  side  by  side— splendid 
examples  of  the  "dead"  and  "live"  glaciers.  The  one  to 
the  left,  gray,  dingy,  receding,  with  the  great  terminal 
moraine  between  it  and  the  sea;  the  live  glacier,  bright 
sparkling  and  blue,  a  great  wall  of  ice  jutting  over  the 
water  from  which  huge  icebergs  come  tumbling  with  a 
crash  like  thunder,  splashing  the  water  high  in  air  and 
filling  the  channel  with  fantastic  shapes.  The  Indians 
have  woven  legends  about  it,  and  call  it  Sitth  Klummu 
Gutta,  the  Spirit's  home. 

Juneau,  the  capital  of  Alaska,  is  a  few  hours'  steam- 
ing from  here;  a  pretty  little  town,  at  the  foot  of  a  tower- 
ing mountain.  There  are  some  fine  curio  shops,  a  some- 
what imposing  capitol  building,  attractive  homes  and  ])ub- 
lic  structures.  Silver  Bow  Basin,  back  of  town,  is  one  of 
the  most  beautiful  of  mountain  canyons  in  Alaska,  and  is 
the  scene  of  extensive  mining  operations.    Juneau  has  good 


262  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

schools,  a  substantial  business  foundation,  and  is  gay  so- 
cially. 

Douglas^  the  residence  portion  of  the  great  Treadwell 
mines,  is  just  across  Gastineaux  Channel  and  connected  by 
telephone  and  ferry.  It  is  a  progressive  and  growing 
Alaskan  town,  whose  birth  dates  from  the  discovery  of 
placer  gold  on  the  island  by  ''French  Pete"  (Pierre  Erus- 
sard),  twenty^-flve  years  ago. 

Treadwell  is  announced  by  the  big  scarlet  oil  tanks 
and  rows  of  red  cottages  rising  from  the  shores  of  Douglas 
Island.  Here  is  the  largest  gold  mine  in  the  world  as  to 
tonnage;  and  as  to  output,  the  second  largest  in  the  United 
States.  This  one  mine  alone  has  more  than  three  times 
paid  the  purchase  price  of  all  Alaska.  The  yawning  pits, 
or  ''Glory  Hole,"  the  heavy  blasting,  the  mills  grinding 
away  night  and  day  the  year  round,  are  all  of  interest. 
The  town  is  not  incorporated,  the  site  being  the  property  of 
the  operating  company.  There  are  wharves,  foundries,  and 
machine  shops.  A  large  club  house  with  reading  rooms, 
baths,  billiard  rooms,  bowling  alleys,  swimming  tank,  and 
stage  for  theatricals  provides  recreation  for  employes. 
There  is  a  glimpse  of  Davidson  Glacier,  on  Lynn  Canal,  in 
passing. 

Haines,  from  where  started  the  once  famous  Dalton 
trail  to  the  interior,  before  the  Skagway  trail  was  opened, 
comes  next.  The  territory  of  the  Chilkat  and  Chilkoot 
tribes  lies  back  of  here. 

Fort  Wm,  H.  Seward^  just  adjoining,  has  one  of  the 
most  picturesque  situations  imaginable,  and  is  the  military 
headquarters  for  Southeastern  Alaska. 

Skagway,  at  the  head  of  Lynn  Canal,  has  various 
claims  to  interest:  Historically,  as  the  boom  town  that 
sprang  to  life  in  a  night  with  the  route  over  the  White 
Pass,  and  as  the  scene  of  operations  of  the  notorious 
"Soapy  Smith"  gang  of  desperadoes.  Geographically,  it  is 
the  gateway  to  the  Yukon  country,  and  during  the  sum- 
mer months  is  filled  with  travellers.     There  are  numerous 


I 


SCENIC  ALASKA— SOUTHEASTERN  263 

hotels,  ciii'io  shops,  and  some  fine  gardens.  Deserted  Dyea 
is  uear  bj;  and  Mount  Dewey  just  back,  for  the  climbers. 
The  wonderful  railroad  trip  over  the  White  Pass  &  Yukon 
Railroad  to  the  summit  of  the  White  Pass  follows  the 
old  trail  to  the  Klondike,  and  winds  up  to  dizzy  heights 
on  the  way.  White  Horse,  on  the  Yukon  River,  is  the  ter- 
minus, and  from  here  the  steamers  leave  for  Dawson,  Fair- 
banks and  St.  Michael,  2,000  miles  down  stream  on 
Bering  Sea. 

And  a  thousand  miles  from  Seattle  does  the  traveller 
find  himself  in  these  four  days  sailing  along  the  shores  of 
the  "Great  Country."  And  before  him  open  many  ways 
and  many  wide  miles  more. 

SrrKA^  the  quaintest  of  quaint  old  towns  and  the 
culmination  of  the  tour  is  still  to  be  seen  when  the  steamer 
turns  south. 

Tucked  away  on  the  seaward  side  of  Baranof  Island, 
back  of  a  hundred  low  islands,  with  the  snowy  outline  of 
Mt.  Edgecumbe  looming  like  a  dream,  the  ancient  trading 
post  lies  wrapped  in  memories  of  by-gone  days. 

The  old  moss-covered  warehouse  is  there  still,  where 
piles  of  priceless  sable,  ermine  and  beaver  were  stored ;  the 
old  blockhouse  and  the  Greek  Cathedral  of  St.  Michael, 
with  its  famous  Madonna,  its  store  of  rich  vestments  and 
ornament.  Lovers'  Lane,  the  beautiful  Indian  River  road, 
winds  along  by  the  sea,  at  the  edge  of  the  forest,  with  the 
gay  totem  poles  flashing  out  here  and  there,  or  crumbling 
old  war  canoes.  The  Sitka  Industrial  School,  the  Sheldon 
Jackson  Museum,  the  agricultural  experiment  station  have 
more  practical  interest.  There  are  some  splendid  hot 
springs  at  Sanitarium,  near  by;  a  post  of  the  United  States 
Marine  Corps,  as  a  military  touch.  And  there  are  minefi 
in  the  country  surrounding,  to  give  Sitka  a  future  as  well 
as  a  past. 

So,  like  the  shifting  pictures  of  a  panorama,  the  scenes 
of  the  changing  days  in  the  far  country  flash  ui)oii  the 
memory,  when  the  traveller  has  reached  his  home. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 


SCENIC    GRANDEUR— SOUTHWESTERN. 


The  Peincb  William  Sound  Scenery — Its  Wonderful 
Magnificence — Childs  and  Miles  Glaciers — The 
MuiR  Glacier — Malaspina  Glacier — Mt,  St.  Elias — 
Lake  McKinley  and  Lake  Eyak — Mt.  McKinley — 
Cordova  and  Seward, 


IF  the  "inside  trip"  to  Alaska  and  journeys  through 
the  southeastern  portion  of  the  great  Territory  are 
filled  with  scenic  interest,  the  longer  tours  to  the 
southwestern  and  western  portions  of  the  country  include 
the  still  more  inspiring  grandeur  of  Malaspina  Glacier, 
Mt.  St.  Elias,  Icy  Straits  and  the  Prince  William  Sound 
and  Copper  River  regions.  Taking  the  ocean  route  into 
the  Gulf  of  Alaska,  through  Icy  Straits,  one  beholds  the 
Muir  Glacier.  All  round  are  lofty  snow-wrapped  peaks. 
In  strange  contrast  can  be  seen  in  the  foreground  highly 
colored  wild  flowers,  and,  here  and  there,  luscious  berries 
growing  among  the  unfriendly  bergs. 

Out  from  this  ice-studded  wonder  of  the  world's  waters 
— on  between  the  towering  heights  that  line  Cross  Sound, 
the  vessel  steams  into  the  Pacific  and  turns  northwestward 
for  a  run  across  the  great  Gulf  of  Alaska  to  Prince  William 
Sound.  The  air  is  balmy,  the  view  inspiring.  Far  away 
to  the  north  the  mountain-walled  coast  rises  to  the  sight. 
As  pearly  white  as  if  it  were  a  stupendous  uplift  of  pure 
marble,  the  incomparable  range  stretches  its  snowy  length 
hundreds  of  miles  against  the  deep  blue  of  the  Alaskan 
sky,     Mt.  Fairweather,  the  giant  of  its  group,  is  left  be- 

(264) 


SCENIC  GRANDEUR— SOUTHWESTERN  265 

hiud.  Ahead  looms  the  gigantic  bulk  of  old  St.  Elias, 
standing  in  unrivaled  majesty  high  above  its  related  peaks. 

In  these  far  northern  waters,  the  traveller  restfully 
reclining  on  deck  in  the  warm  sunshine,  his  eyes  dreamily 
lifted  to  the  kindly  sky,  might  fancy  a  nearness  to  the 
tropics ;  but  looking  across  northward  to  those  towering 
sentinels  robed  in  snow  and  ice,  he  knows  that  not  far 
beyond  the  shore  they  guard  is  the  circle  of  the  Arctic. 
Stretched  at  his  right  may  be  a  tourist  distinguished  in 
some  highly  developed  corner  of  the  earth,  at  his  left  some 
adventurous  prospector  returning  to  wilds  beyond  the 
walled  coast  line.  The  tourist  is  sensitive  to  the  rare 
charms  of  sea  and  shore,  but  the  vision  of  the  miner,  dis- 
regarding this  scenic  opulence,  goes  to  rugged  regions  be- 
yond, where  he  sees  value  not  in  the  massive  grandeur  of 
formations,  but  in  infinitesimal  particles  imbedded  in  their 
veins.  And  tourist  and  miner  will  rival  one  another  in 
expressions  of  admiration  for  Alaska,  as  it  appears  to 
each. 

The  ship  ploughs  on  through  waters  of  ever-changing 
hue,  past  heights  that  are  forever  white.  Whales  come 
blowing  to  the  surface  to  sport  upon  the  waves  or  to  en- 
gage other  marine  monsters  in  fierce  combat;  and  herds 
of  roly-poly  porpoises  go  tumbling  past.  The  headland 
that  marks  the  way  to  Prince  William  Sound  rises  into 
view.  Soon  is  well-defined  the  gateway  to  that  vast  marine 
enclosure  which  calmly  awaits  its  great  maritime  destiny. 
The  westering  sun,  gleaming  across  the  wide  passage  from 
sound  to  sea,  lights  the  billowing  waters  with  a  flood  of 
color,  and  the  vessel  is  riding  in  an  element  that  now  is 
violet,  now  carmine,  now  gold. 

Entering  the  sound,  the  steamer  turns  to  the  eastward 
and  in  a  few  hours  is  in  the  beautiful  harbor  of  Cordova. 
Here,  on  a  picturesque  site,  is  rising  a  most  interesting  city, 
enjoying  the  fortunate  combination  of  deep  water  and 
easy  access  to  the  great  interior.  Sheltered  by  forest  and 
mountain,  its  air  has  the  softness  of  a  Puget  Sound  atmos- 


266  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

phere.  But  back  of  it,  seaming  the  mountain  sides,  are 
great  glacial  masses.  Fifty  miles  away  are  two  of  the 
earth's  icy  marvels,  Childs  and  Miles  Glaciers,  which  tour- 
ists are  able  to  reach  comfortably  over  the  Copper  River 
&  Northwestern  Railway,  the  trip  affording  an  opportu- 
nity to  see  how,  in  the  construction  of  this  remarkable 
road,  extraordinary  difficulties  were  met  and  overcome. 
The  railway  makes  one  of  its  numerous  crossings  of  the 
Copper  River  between  the  famous  glaciers,  and  through 
unexpected  foliage  and  flowers  a  few  steps  from  the  train 
brings  one  into  close  view  of  a  most  stupendous  spectacle. 
Along  the  river's  edge  for  three  miles,  Childs  Glacier  lifts 
its  colossal  face  three  hundred  feet  high.  From  a  point 
back  in  the  mountains,  seventy-five  miles  away,  its  gigantic 
body  winds  along  slope  and  chasm,  ever  accumulating  in 
the  range  and  ever  losing  at  the  river,  where  riven  tons  at 
frequent  intervals  crash  down  to  spot  the  water  with 
floes. 

Leaving  Cordova,  the  route  lies  across  the  Sound  to 
Valdez  Basin,  a  course  that  inspires  in  the  lover  of  nature 
admiration  and  awe.  Ahead  is  a  range  arrayed  in  that 
snowy  whiteness  with  which  the  traveller  is  now  familiar. 
But  to  starboard  in  stately  succession  come  into  view  tre- 
mendous rocks,  whose  castellated  tops  may  be  wreathed  in 
snow,  but  whose  precipitous  sides  exhibit  the  grim  aspect 
of  their  native  grayness.  From  frowning  crag  and  dark 
forest  depth — from  shadowy  inlet  and  the  wide,  empty 
level  of  the  surrounding  water — there  comes  upon  the  be- 
holder a  sense  of  great  solitude — of  silence  infinite,  prime- 
val, mystical.  Out  of  this  wondrous  silence,  banishing  its 
spell,  may  come  the  beating  of  a  launch — the  white  man's 
canoe — bearing  bold  prospectors  and  their  grub  to  some 
hoped-for  bonanza,  and  the  imagination  is  diverted  to  play 
upon  their  fate. 

Rugged  nature's  pinnacled  pageantry  of  stone  and  ice 
passes  in  solemn  show  and  gives  way  to  the  smiling  sward 
that  clothes  the  gentle  slopes  about  the  mining  camp  of 


( 


SCENIC  GRANDEUR— SOUTHWESTERN  267 

Ellamar.  Out  of  the  camp's  rippling  inlet  the  boat  steers 
for  the  entrance  to  Valdez  Bay.  So  far  as  the  eye  may 
tell  there  is  only  a  mountain  wall  ahead.  But  presently 
the  veering  of  the  vessel  brings  into  view  a  stately  entrance 
to  a  noble  scene.  Beyond  is  the  broad  Bay  of  Valdez,  en- 
compassed by  scenic  charm.  The  slopes  of  lofty  mountains 
that  surround  it  with  picturesque  endowment  of  form  and 
aspect  are  invested  with  a  striking  beauty  lent  by  the 
blending  of  variegated  vegetation  and  serried  snowdrift, 
everlasting  strata  and  fleeting  cloudlet,  forest  and  cascade. 
The  steamer  stops  at  Fort  Liscum,  and  the  whole  garrison 
is  at  the  wharf  to  enjoy  a  break  in  the  monotony  of  post 
life.  Three  miles  be^'ond  comes  Valdez,  with  its  unique 
glacial  background  and  big  mining  possibilities — the  far- 
thest north  point  touched  on  this  voyage. 

Out  into  the  broad  Sound  again,  and  on  southwestward, 
goes  the  boat  to  Latouche,  where  interest  may  be  divided 
between  its  mining  operations  and  its  rare  ferns.  And 
then,  after  an  exhilarating  ride  in  protected  channels  and 
on  open  water,  past  scenes  of  wild  grandeur  and  patches  of 
gentle  landscape,  and  finally  through  a  magnificent  avenue 
of  the  sea  to  a  sheltered  haven,  Seward  is  reached  and  the 
outward  voyage  is  ended.  Backed  by  beetling  heights  and 
fronted  by  its  tranquil  bay,  Seward's  situation  is  an  attrac- 
tive one,  and  its  resources  are  an  inspiration  to  its  builders. 


Scenic  Travel. — Those  unacquainted  with  "Modern 
Alaska"  will  be  surprised  to  read  of  railway  scenic  travel 
in  that  gi'eat  region.  The  Copper  River  Valley  route  al- 
ready provides  one  of  the  greatest  of  these  enjoyments. 
This  was  made  possible  by  the  completion  of  the  Co])i)er 
River  &  Northwestern  Railway,  in  the  summer  of  11)11, 
from  Cordova,  on  the  south  coast,  to  Kennecott,  towards 
the  interior,  a  distance  of  nearly  200  miles.  The  road, 
since  that  time,  has  not  been  continuously  operated,  owing 
to  drawbacks  incident  to  faulty  governmental  administration 


268  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

of  the  country,  but,  doubtless  will  resume  activity  and  push 
its  line  forward  to  Fairbanks,  under  the  new  order,  without 
delay. 

Aside  from  its  importance  in  relation  to  the  industrial 
development  of  the  country  in  the  future,  the  Copper  River 
route  already  has  taken  precedence  as  the  most  remarkable 
scenic  line  to  be  found  in  the  world.  Here  we  have  the 
mountains  and  glaciers  eclipsing  in  grandeur  those  of  far- 
famed  Switzerland;  the  canyons,  gorges  and  peaks  of  Col- 
orado are  as  nothing  compared  with  those  of  the  Copper 
River;  Lake  McKinley,  Lake  Eyak  and  Long  Lake  com- 
bine more  majestic  scenery  than  either  Tahoe  or  Crater. 
Touring  above  this  picturesque  arena,  combining  all  that 
is  sublime  in  mountain  and  marine  scenery,  arise  in  the 
distance  three  great  monuments — Mt.  McKinley,  the  high- 
est peak  in  the  United  States;  Mt.  Wrangell,  in  active 
eruption  for  several  years  past,  and  Mt.  St,  Elias,  the  most 
picturesque  of  any  American  mountain.  Like  sentinels 
they  stand  at  three  points  of  a  triangle,  guarding  the 
treasures  that  lie  in  the  hills  and  valleys  at  their  base. 
From  their  towering  slopes  trickle  countless  streams  of 
snow  and  water,  each  one  of  which  steadily  and  gradually 
increases  in  volume  until  it  forms  an  important  river. 
Many  of  these  rivers  flow  into  the  Copper,  and  this  stream 
for  nearly  200  miles  rushes  down  the  natural  defile  to  seek 
its  water  level  at  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

From  Cordova  the  tourist  may  proceed  to  Childs  and 
Miles  Glaciers.  This  trip  of  forty-nine  miles  is  made  in  a 
short  time,  and  on  the  return,  one  can  proceed  to  Seward 
and  Valdez.  The  trip  affords  opportunity  of  viewing  some 
of  the  most  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Copper  River,  notably 
Childs  and  Miles  Glaciers,  located  on  either  side  of  the 
Copper  River  at  Mile  Post  49,  where  the  river  is  spanned 
by  a  mammoth  steel  bridge  set  on  concrete  piers,  and  one 
of  the  notable  bits  of  construction  on  this  new  railroad. 
Owing  to  its  accessibility,  Childs  Glacier  is  the  one  visited 
most  frequently.     Leaving  the  train,  a  short  walk  of  but 


SCENIC  GRANDEUR— SOUTHWESTERN  269 

a  few  thousand  feet  takes  the  tourist  to  the  bank  of  the 
river,  facing  Childs  Glacier  in  all  its  majesty  and  splen- 
dor. Imagine,  if  you  can,  a  solid  wall  of  ice  rising  from 
an  opalescent  stream!  It  is  three  miles  long.  In  height 
it  varies  from  300  to  500  feet.  In  color  it  is  icy  white,  with 
great  streaks  of  turquoise  blue.  As  the  river  is  rushing 
swiftly  by,  constant  detonations  and  reports  are  heard  and 
great  masses  of  ice  detach  themselves  from  the  glacier  and 
fall  into  the  stream,  causing  Avaves  to  be  sent  whirling  and 
swirling  across  the  stream  and  rushing  up  the  bank  to  the 
feet  of  those  standing  on  the  opposite  shore.  It  is  a  sight 
most  beautiful  and  fills  everyone  with  awe,  as  the  masses 
of  breaking  ice  are  sometimes  as  large  as  a  modern  sky- 
scraper in  any  of  the  large  cities.  Throughout  the  sum- 
mer months  the  glacier  is  steadily  moving  forward  with 
a  constant  booming  of  falling  ice,  both  day  and  night,  and 
the  view  of  this  remarkable  ice  wall,  once  seen,  will  never 
be  forgotten. 

Cordova,  the  seaport,  is  located  on  Cordova  Bay,  a 
landlocked  harbor  and  one  of  the  finest  ports  in  South- 
western Alaska.  It  has  good  hotels,  banks  and  mercantile 
establishments  and  is,  therefore,  becoming  the  outfitting 
headquarters  for  prospecting  and  hunting  parties  going  into 
the  interior.  A  stop-over  at  Cordova  can  be  made  very 
interesting,  owing  to  the  many  novel  sights  and  scenes 
other  than  the  glaciers  just  described;  while  the  nearby 
country  is  most  inviting  to  the  hunter  or  fisherman.  The 
new  railroad  is  one  of  the  natural  gateways  to  all  the 
interior  of  Alaska,  and  at  Mile  Post  192  a  hunting  lodge  is 
likely  to  be  established  where  experienced  guides  with 
horses  and  all  equipment  can  be  procured  for  the  trip  into 
the  White  River  country.  The  White  River  district  is  full 
of  game,  and  with  the  Copper  River  region  the  two  create 
a  most  inviting  field  for  the  sportsman.  Fishing  is  good; 
while  bear  and  mountain  sheep  are  plentiful. 

Chitina  is  the  junction  town,  135  miles  from  Cordova. 
Here  the  Chitina  branch  leaves  for  Kennecott  and  connec- 


270  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

tion  is  made  with  stages  for  Fairbanks  via  the  new  govern- 
ment stage  road,  Chitina  is  the  outfitting  point  for  that 
entire  section  and  is  being  rapidly  bnilt  up.  Many  pros- 
pectors are  making  it  their  headquarters  and  spreading 
out  into  the  surrounding  country.  There  are  many  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  bottom  and  bench  land  in  the  Chitina 
Basin  undoubtedly  suitable  for  agriculture.  The  climate 
is  most  favorable  and  the  soil  rich.  The  entire  basin  is 
well  watered  and  timbered.  The  chief  crops  will  be  pota- 
toes, oats,  hay  and  other  grasses  and  vegetables,  and  as 
the  country  develops  a  ready  market  will  be  found  for 
all  these  products  of  the  soil.  In  this  future  industry  the 
town  of  Chitina.  has  a  valuable  asset,  as  no  agricultural  land 
can  be  developed  in  the  Copper  River  Valley  south  of  the 
Chitina  River. 

The  railroad  crosses  the  Copper  River  at  Chitina  and 
continues  through  a  heavily  wooded  country,  at  times  af- 
fording splendid  views  of  the  entire  frontal  range  to  Ken- 
necott,  the  present  terminus,  195.6  miles  from  Cordova. 
Here  is  located  quite  a  thriving  hamlet  built  up  entirely 
by  the  Kennecott  Mines  Company,  operating  the  Bonanza 
mine.  It  is  a  noteworthy  copper  property,  some  of  its  ore 
shipped  last  year  running  as  high  as  70  per  cent.  The  mine 
is  reached  by  a  tramway  from  the  mill  and  ore  house,  and 
the  company  has  erected  substantial  buildings  for  its  staff, 
officials  and  employes. 

Other  scenic  features  are  described  in  connection  with 
accounts  of  the  railway  and  highwa}^  routes  elsewhere  in 
this  volume. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 


LAND  OF  THE   SPORTSMAN. 


Big  and  Little  Game  of  Alaska. 


IT  is  well  said  that  no  portion  of  the  North  American 
continent  presents  such  an  attractive  field  for  the 
sportsman  as  Alaska.  Largely  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  Territory  has  heretofore  been  regarded  as  an  isolated 
and  inaccessible  region,  the  game  laws  misunderstood  and 
the  general  climatic  conditions  exaggerated  in  a  manner  to 
discourage  hunters  and  fishermen,  the  country  has  been 
visited  by  but  few  for  these  sports.  But  conditions  are 
changing,  and  the  ease  with  which  the  country,  even  to  its 
interior  parts,  will  be  reached  from  Seattle,  owing  to  new 
railway  lines  soon  to  be  opened,  gives  us  a  new  picture 
which  strongly  will  appeal  to  the  lovers  of  all  large  and 
small  game  sports. 

The  reader  of  this  description  of  the  country  should 
remember  that  the  Territory  is  so  vast  that  conditions 
greatly  differ  as  between  locations.  Another  matter  nuiy  be 
referred  to  and  that  is  the  provisions  of  the  game  laws  in 
reference  to  registered  guides.  The  only  place  where  a 
registered  guide  is  compulsory  is  on  the  Kenai  Peninsula 
and  such  registered  guides  are  not  recpiired  for  the  While 
River  country,  Kodiak  Island,  the  Copper  River  region,  or 
any  portion  of  Southeastern  or  Western  Alaska. 

However,  any  n^n-resident  hunter  in  Alaska  shall  i>ay 
a  fee  of  |50  provided  he  is~a~citizen  of  the  United  States, 
and  a  fee  of  |100,  if  he  be  an  alien;  such  license  to  l)e  pro 

(271) 


272  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

cured  from  the  Governor  of  Alaska,  whose  address  is  Ju- 
neau, Ahiska. 

The  Kenai  Peninsuhi  presents  an  excellent  field  for  the 
sportsman. 

A  somewhat  distinct  feature  will  be  hunting  in  the 
^A'hite  Kiver  country.  This  section  is  located  in  Central 
Eastern  Alaska,  extending  to  the  international  boundary 
and  beyond.  It  very  soon  will  be  conveniently  accessible. 
It  is  described  as  the  "Sportsman's  Paradise." 

Mention  must  be  made  of  the  Bering  Sea  big  game. 
Here  are  to  be  found  hundreds  of  walrus,  while  the  polar 
bear,  that  fierce  prowler  of  the  Xorth,  can  be  encountered 
quite  frequently.  The  musk  ox  also  is  native  to  this  sec- 
tion, but  is  not  plentiful.  But  to  the  hunter  of  big  game 
no  animal  appeals  more  strongly  than  the  great  Kodiak 
brown  bear.  The  range  of  this  animal  is  on  Kodiak 
Island,  Kenai  Peninsula  and  Alaska  Peninsula,  and  the 
proper  season  is  the  month  of  June.  The  pelts  are  good  up 
to  July  1st,  when  the  season  closes.  Each  sportsman  is 
allowed  three  bears  and  no  more.  It  should  be  borne  in 
mind  that  hunting  for  bear  must  be  done  before  July  1st, 
but  moose,  mountain  sheep  and  mountain  goat  after 
August  20th. 

The  cinnamon  or  brown  bear  is  found  not  only  in 
the  wooded  sections,  but  also  in  the  barrens  and  on  the 
bare  rocky  mountain  sides.  Its  range  covers  the  greater 
part  of  Alaska  from  Mt.  St.  Elias  to  the  Endicott  Moun- 
tains. This  animal  has  a  well  established  reputation  for 
ferocity,  second  only  to  the  Kodiak  bear. 

On  the  Malaspina  and  other  large  glaciers  in  the 
vicinity  of  Mt.  St.  Elias  is  to  be  found  the  splendid  speci- 
men known  as  the  glacier  bear.  It  is  about  the  size  of  the 
ordinary  black  bear,  its  shoulders  being  higher  than  its  hips. 
It  has  a  short  neck  and  no  hump  on  its  shoulders.  These 
bears  are  a  bluish  gray  in  color,  somewhat  resembling  the 
color  of  the  glaciers.  The  pelt  is  fine  and  makes  an  attrac- 
tive rug.    It  weighs  from  300  to  600  pounds. 


BIG  GAME   KILLED   ON   ADINIIRALTY   ISLAND 


ESKmO  AKJ'i  IIKKS  AND  CHILDREN 

Photo    by    P.    H.    Nowell. 


LAND  OF  THE  SPORTSMAN  273 

The  moose  is  the  largest  herbivorous  animal  in  Alaska. 
Its  range  extends  from  the  Kenai  Peninsula  northward 
to  the  Kuskokwim  River  and  eastward  to  the  Tanana  and 
White  Rivers.  Cook  Inlet  and  the  Kenai  Peninsula  are  the 
best  places  for  moose  hunting.  The  record  length  of  the 
antlers  of  this  animal  is  78  inches.  Cook  Inlet  moose  are 
the  largest  in  the  world,  and  the  antlers  a  trophy  well 
worth  possessing. 

Mountain  sheep  are  found  in  great  numbers  in  the 
higher  altitudes  of  Central  Alaska.  They  may  also  be 
found  in  the  Endicott  Mountains  in  Northern  Alaska,  in 
the  White  River  section,  and  the  Chisana  country. 

Wild  goats  are  to  be  met  with  in  all  the  mountain 
regions  of  Alaska.  The  sportsman  does  not  have  to  go  fur- 
ther than  Southeastern  Alaska  to  obtain  the  fill  of  his 
ambition  as  a  goat  hunter. 

There  are  thousands  of  caribou  in  Alaska,  and  they 
may  be  met  with  in  season  in  a  region  extending  from 
the  head  of  the  Tanana  to  the  Arctic.  Prospectors  in  the 
Chandelar  and  Porcupine  regions  as  well  as  at  various 
places  back  of  Skagway  report  caribou  in  large  numbers. 
Big  timber  wolves  occasionally  are  met  with  in  the  timbered 
sections  of  this  country  and  the  gray  wolves  are  to  be  seen 
along  the  outskirts  of  the  caribou  lands.  Foxes  abound  in 
every  part  of  Alaska  and  their  furs  have  been,  since  the 
discovery  of  Alaska  by  the  Russians,  an  important  article 
of  Alaska  commerce.  The  variety  of  foxes  comprises  the 
white  Arctic  fox,  red,  black  and  the  silver-gray,  the  latter 
specimen  being  very  rare.  There  are  fox  farms  on  some  of 
the  Alaska  islands,  where  blue  foxes  and  other  varieties 
are  grown  in  a  half  wild  state. 

Deer  are  found  in  abundance  in  the  forests  of  South- 
eastern and   Southern   Alaska. 

In  addition  to  the  big  game,  Alaska  is  well  provided 
with  small  game,  including  the  ptarmigan  (Arctic  grouse), 
spruce  grouse,  partridges,  rabbits,  porcupine,  and  almost 
every  kind  of  water-fowl  and  shore  bird.     Alaska  is  the 


274  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANIJs^G  TO   THE  WORLD 

breeding  ground  for  countless  thousands  of  geese,  ducks, 
swans,  cranes,  plovers,  snipe  and  other  species. 

There  is  scarcely  a  stream  in  the  central  and  northern 
part  of  Alaska  that  does  not  contain  grayling.  There  are 
five  kinds  of  trout  in  that  territory — Rainbow,  Dolly  Var- 
den,  lake,  cut-throat  and  steel-head.  Lake  trout  is  found 
in  the  larger  lakes  of  the  interior.  Still  another  variety 
of  food  fish  is  the  white  fish  of  the  Yukon,  which  can  not 
be  taken  with  bait.  It  is  also  found  in  some  of  the  larger 
streams  of  the  Arctic  coast  and  is  equal  in  flavor  to  the 
Lake  Superior  white  fish.  Pike  are  also  found  in  the  lakes 
of  Alaska. 

As  the  steamships  wait  at  Cordova  for  sightseers  to 
be  taken  over  the  town  or  up  to  Childs  and  Miles  Glaciers, 
many  of  the  men  go  fishing.  Right  at  the  wharf  nets  can 
be  hired  of  the  ''crab  men"  and  the  novelty  of  securing  your 
own  crab  for  luncheon  is  the  result.  The  Cordova  crab 
is  better  than  the  Dungeness  or  the  Chesapeake  crab. 

Then  right  back  of  the  town,  picturesque  Lake  Eyak, 
a  nice  walking  distance,  affords  splendid  fishing,  so  Cordova 
is  an  attractive  point  for  either  hunter  or  fisherman. 

While  many  of  the  places  herein  mentioned  are  quite  a 
distance  from  Seattle,  there  are  other  sections  much  nearer 
but  which  provide  excellent  sport.  All  along  the  South- 
eastern Alaska  coast,  from  Ketchikan  to  Skagway,  fishing 
and  hunting  are  excellent.  These  points  are  from  two  to 
four  days'  distance  by  steamship  and  include  Ketchikan, 
Wrangell  (the  Stikine  country),  Haines,  Douglas,  Juneau, 
(Douglas  Island  and  Admiralty  Island),  Skagway  and  in- 
terior points  reached  by  railroad  from  there. 

While  the  halibut  is  regarded  as  a  commercial  fish, 
owing  to  the  hundreds  brought  from  Alaska  and  sold  all 
over  the  country  for  food,  yet  one  of  the  most  unique  day's 
sport  can  be  enjoyed  if  one  goes  halibut  fishing.  The  hali- 
but grows  to  be  over  300  pounds  at  times  and  to  hook  one 
weighing  over  a  hundred  pounds  means  some  hard  work  and 
rare  physical  exercise  in  landing  the  fish.     To  many,  catch- 


LAND  OF  THE  SPORTSMAN  275 

ing  halibut  will  prove  fine  sport.  They  are  hard  to  handle, 
in  fact  they  cannot  be  landed  alive  from  the  line,  the  fish- 
erman being  compelled  to  kill  the  fish  with  a  club  before 
it  can  be  hauled  into  the  boat. 

Halibut  fishing  is  common  along  the  greater  portion  of 
the  coast  of  Alaska,  to  the  south  of  the  Territory. 

The  most  exciting  sport  for  the  angler  may  be  found 
in  the  salt  waters  of  Southeastern  Alaska  during  the  sal- 
mon season.  The  King  salmon,  which  is  the  biggest  of 
the  salmon  family,  will  take  a  troll  and  make  a  fight  that 
will  give  the  angler  a  great  respect  for  this  royal  member 
of  the  salmon  household.  Near  Ketchikan,  two  of  the  species 
weighing  77  pounds  each  were  caught  with  a  troll.  Ketchi- 
kan is  quite  a  favorite  summer  resort  for  many  Eastern 
hunters  and  fishermen  who  enjoy  the  season  in  sailing 
about  the  various  islands  or  in  making  trips  into  the  back 
country  to  the  British  Columbia  line. 

A  copy  of  the  game  laws  of  Alaska  can  be  procured 
by  writing  to  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture, 
Bureau  of  Biological  Survey,  Washington,  D.  C. ;  or  to  the 
Governor  of  Alaska,  Juneau,  Alaska. 

The  routes  to  the  various  hunting  grounds  described 
herein  are  as  follows :  To  Bering  Sea,  for  polar  bear,  wal- 
rus, musk  ox^  etc. ;  season  of  navigation  open  at  Seattle 
from  June  1st  to  October  1st. 

To  White  Kiver,  Nebesna  and  Chisana  country,  steamers 
connect  at  Cordova  with  trains  for  Blackburn,  where  guides 
and  horses  can  be  procured  for  trips  into  these  attractive 
regions.  The  Kenai  Peninsula  is  reached  by  steamers  for 
Seward  and  Kodiak  Island.  Steamers  leaving  Seattle  con- 
nect at  Seward  with  steamers  for  Alaska  Peninsula  points 
and  Kodiak  Island.  The  routes  to  Southeastern  Alaska  are 
generally  well  known. 

Presuming  that  the  visitor  is  going  into  the  interior 
of  Alaska  and  not  to  the  Bering  Sea  or  Arctic  region,  the 
ordinary  hunting  outfit  such  as  would  be  used  in  British 
Columbia,    or   other   similar   mountainous   districts    is    re- 


276  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

quired.  Good,  strong  waterproof  boots,  or  half  boots  are 
necessary,  but  it  will  be  a  mistake  to  overburden  oneself 
with  heavy  clothing,  as  the  substantial  outfit  will  be  found 
suflBcient  for  the  interior  country.  The  Alaska  game  laws 
provide  the  following  seasons  for  hunting:  North  of  lati- 
tude 62  degrees — brown  bear  may  be  killed  at  any  time; 
moose,  caribou,  sheep,  walrus  and  sea  lions,  from  August 
1st  to  December  10th,  both  inclusive.  South  of  latitude 
62  degrees — moose,  caribou  and  mountain  sheep,  from  Au- 
gust 20th  to  December  31st,  both  inclusive;  brown  bear, 
from  October  1st  to  July  1st,  both  inclusive;  deer  and 
mountain  goats,  from  April  1st  to  February  1st,  both  inclu- 
sive; grouse,  ptarmigan,  shore  birds  and  waterfowl,  from 
September  1st  to  March  1st,  both  inclusive. 

Deer  in  Southeastern  Alaska  may  be  killed  August 
15th  to  November  1st,  except  at  certain  places. 

Walrus  in  Bering  Strait  and  Bering  Sea  north  of  the 
mouth  of  the  Kuskoquim  Eiver  may  be  killed  May  10th  to 
July  1st,  both  inclusive.  Polar  bear  may  be  killed  at  any 
time. 

Stockholm  tar  (ordinary  pitch  tar)  and  lard,  mixed  in 
equal  portions  and  spread  upon  the  face  and  hands,  will 
afford  protection  from  mosquitoes,  gnats  and  flies.  There 
are  many  high-priced  preparations  on  the  market,  but  none 
will  be  found  quite  so  effective  as  this  simple  one. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 


SEATTLE   OF   TODAY. 


Historical — Climate  and  Health — Population — Stra- 
tegic Location — Commercial  Advantages — Industries 
— Transportation  Facilities — Its  Wonderful  Progress 
— Other  Attractions. 


AS  the  present  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  prog- 
ress for  both  Alaska  and  Seattle,  the  public  natur- 
ally will  observe  their  growth  from  this  datum.  We 
already  have  had  a  very  full  account  of  the  Alaska  of  1914. 
It  remains  only  to  present  such  information  as  will  give 
the  reader  a  clear,  quick  view  of  the  status  of  Seattle  as 
it  is  today.     This  follows  here: 

Historical 
First  settled  in  1852. 

Named  for  a  friendly  Indian  chief  who  died  in  1886. 
First  plat  filed  in  1853. 
Incorporated  as  a  town  in  1865. 
Incorporated  as  a  city  in  1869. 
In  1884  first  railroad  reached  the  city. 
June  6,  1889,  business  district  wiped  out  by  fire.   Loss, 
$7,000,000. 

In  1889  city  charter  adopted. 

In  1896  first  direct  steamship  line  to  Orient  established. 
In  1897  first  big  shipment  of  gold  from  Alaska  and 
the  Klondike. 

Climate  and  Health 
Average   temperature:     Winter,   40   degrees;   summer, 
64  degrees, 

(277) 


278  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

No  blizzards,  cyclones,  cloudbursts  or  drouths. 

Outdoor  work  possible  every  day  in  the  year. 

Finest    summer    climate    in    America;    winters    invar- 
iably mild. 

Lowest  death  rate  in  the  United  States. 

Lowest  infant  death  rate  in  the  world. 

Absolutely  pure  water  supply  from  mountains;  67,500,- 
000  gallons  daily  capacity. 

Kigid  inspection  of  milk  and  all  market  supplies. 

City  collects  and  destroys  all  garbage. 
General. 

Population,  1910  census,  237,194;   1914  directory  and 
school  census,  313,000. 

Twenty-first  city  of  United  States  in  population  and 
importance. 

Eight  transcontinental  railroad  lines. 

Fifty-eight  steamship  lines. 

One  hundred  and  fifty  miles  of  water  frontage. 

Postoffice   receipts   for   1912,   |1,049,503.72 ;    1913,   |1,- 
344,248. 

Bank  clearings  1912,  1602,430,660.99 ;  1913,  |664,857,448. 

Bank  deposits  1912,  179,187,319.68;  1913,  181,578,418. 

Cost  of  buildings   in   1900,   |3,000,000;   in    1909,   |19,- 
000,000;  in  1910,  1911,  1912,  |33,000,000. 

United   States  Assay  OfiSce,  established   1898,  has   re- 
ceived 1210,407,068.99  in  gold. 

Best    lighted    city    in    America;    lighted    by    munic- 
ipal plant. 

More  than  three  hundred  churches  of  all  denominations. 

Public   library   of   175,000   volumes.      Splendid   central 
building  and  six  substantial  branch  buildings. 

Sixty-five  grade  schools;  six  high  schools.     Many  pri- 
vate and  parochial  schools. 

University  of  Washington   within   city  limits   on  335- 
acre  campus,  with  2,700  students  enrolled. 

Public    park    acreage    1,803;     twenty -eight    improved 
parks;  twelve  fully  equipped  playgrounds. 


SEATTLE  OF  TODAY  279 

Finest  scenic  boulevard  system  in  world;  thirty-one 
miles  completed. 

Expenditures  on  parks,  playgrounds  and  boulevards 
since  1904,  |5,440,000. 

Building  largest  canal  lock  in  United  States  to  connect 
salt  and  fresh  water  harbors  at  cost  of  |2,300,000. 

Money  provided  and  work  in  progress  on  harbor  im- 
provements to  cost,  within  next  live  years,  |20,000,000. 

More  commerce,  more  manufacturing,  more  railroads, 
more  population  than  any  other  city  in  Pacific  Northwest. 


Seattle  pride  largely  is  invested  in  its  many  grand 
oflSce  buildings,  foremost  among  which  is  the  wonderful 
42-story  L.  C.  Smith  temple  of  business,  probably  the  finest 
office  building  west  of  New  York  City.  It  is  a  distinguishing 
feature  of  the  central  business  district  of  Seattle. 


It  is  well  said  that  the  history  of  Seattle's  past  is  a 
record  of  the  struggle  of  the  supremacy  which  has  been 
realized.  "It  is  a  city  whose  future  is  pregnant  with  prom- 
ise," and  this  promise  has  become  much  brighter  since 
the  National  Government  has  given  its  people  assurance 
of  the  early  development  of  the  great  resources  of  Alaska. 
As  all  now  realize,  Seattle  has  a  most  wonderfully  stra- 
tegic position  in  the  Pacific  Northwest.  In  the  commerce 
of  the  nation  and  the  world  it  ever  will  hold  a  first  place. 
"It  is  the  door  to  a  continent  richer  in  diversified  resources 
than  any  other."  This  is  a  gateway  also  to  foreign  lands 
and  to  their  progress.  It  is  the  natural  western  distribut- 
ing point  for  American  products — a  port  where  ocean  liners 
and  transcontinental  trains  meet  to  expedite  the  world's 
business. 

Concerning  the  advantages  of  its  location,  it  has  prop- 
erly been  said  that  it  is  situated  on  an  eminence  command- 
ing a  vast  waterway,  where  its  wonderful  growth  has  been 
wisely  and  well  directed.  The  place  chosen  for  the  city 
comprehends  the  rugged  hillsides  bordering  Elliott  Bay,  an 


280  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

arm  of  Puget  Sound.  These  heights  were  picturesque,  but 
were  obstacles  to  rapid  transit;  hence  they  were  leveled. 
Gravel  and  boulder  and  rock  were  removed,  and  compara- 
tively level  streets  were  secured.  The  refuse  was  appropri- 
ated to  raise  the  level  of  extensive  tide  flats,  and  to  reclaim 
them  for  manufacturing  and  terminal  sites. 

In  this  work  large  expenditures  were  necessary,  but  the 
rapidity  of  growth  in  population  and  business  warranted 
the  outlay.  The  village  of  1880  grew  into  a  city  of  80,671 
in  1900,  while  in  1910  the  population  was  237,194,  an  in- 
crease of  194  per  cent  in  ten  years.  The  1912  census  gives 
the  city  286,322  inhabitants,  and  that  of  1914,  by  one  author- 
ity, estimated,  places  the  number  at  313,000. 

Here  are  some  figures  indicative  of  Seattle's  business 
growth:  In  1901,  the  bank  deposits  were  120,237,862;  in 
1912  they  were  $79,187,319 ;  in  1913  they  were  $81,578,418. 

Bank  clearings,  1901,  $144,694,367 ;  in  1913,  $664,857,448. 
Postoffice  receipts,  1901,  $228,437;  1913,  $1,344,248.  Build- 
ing permits,  value,  1901,  $4,569,728;  1909,  $19,044,335;  1910, 
$17,418,078;  1911,  $7,491,156;  1913,  $9,321,115.  Total  value 
building  in  four  years,  $53,274,714. 

The  latest  government  manufacturing  census  was  taken 
in  1909.  This  gives  capital  invested  as  $46,472,000,  and 
the  value  of  the  manufactured  product  at  $50,569,000. 
Seattle  and  the  State  of  Washington  have  more  factories 
than  any  other  city  or  state  in  the  Pacific  Northwest. 

Located  on  the  shore  of  Elliott  Bay,  an  arm  of  Puget 
Sound,  which  forms  an  extensive  deep  water  harbor,  per- 
fectly protected  from  storm  and  accessible  to  the  largest 
vessels  afloat  at  all  times  and  at  all  stages  of  the  tide,  Se- 
attle has  become  the  American  port  of  a  number  of  the 
principal  steamship  lines  operating  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  the  home  port  of  some  of  the  greatest  freight  carriers 
in  the  world.  It  is  also  the  home  port  of  a  very  large  fleet 
of  coastwise  steamers  which  are  operated  in  its  trade  with 
Alaska,  Oregon  and  California.  The  city  is  located  on  the 
east  side  of  Puget  Sound,  125  miles  from  the  ocean. 


SEATTLE  OF  TODAY  281 

In  the  way  of  railroad  transportation,  Seattle  is  espe- 
cially favored.  The  lines  entering  the  city  are  the  Oregon- 
Washington  Railroad  and  Navigation  Company,  one  of  the 
related  lines  of  the  Harriman  System,  giving  direct  con- 
nection with  the  Southern  Pacific,  Union  Pacific  and  Ore- 
gon Short  Line;  the  Great  Northern,  Northern  Pacific, 
Chicago,  Milwaukee  and  St  Paul,  Canadian  Pacific,  and 
the  Burlington.  The  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  connects  with 
the  city  by  its  own  line  of  steamers.  Terminal  facilities 
are  ample.  The  O.-W.  R.  &  N.  station  at  Seattle  is  the 
finest  structure  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States  west 
of  Chicago. 

In  addition  to  the  extensive  terminals  installed  in 
Seattle,  by  the  transcontinental  railroads,  the  Port  District 
voted  in  March,  1912,  |8,100,000  for  the  construction  of 
dockage  facilities,  including  $.5,000,000  for  the  acquisition 
of  the  site  and  erection  of  six  concrete  wharfs,  1,400  feet 
long  and  150  feet  wide.  The  terminal  facilities  are  to  be 
similar  to  the  Bush  Terminals  in  Brooklyn.  In  June,  1912, 
the  Pacific  Terminal  Company  submitted  a  proposal  for  a 
lease  of  the  Harbor  Island  Railway  and  deep  sea  termi- 
nals, agreeing  to  expend  16,000,000  in  the  construction  of 
piers,  warehouses,  industrial  buildings,  terminal  railroad 
facilities,  etc. 

Seattle  and  King  County,  assisted  by  the  Government, 
are  now  constructing  a  waterway,  connecting  Puget  Sound 
with  Lake  Union,  a  fresh  water  body  about  five  miles 
square  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and  Lake  Washington,  some 
thirty  miles  long  by  five  miles  wide,  forming  the  east 
boundary  of  Seattle.  This  work  will  create  the  most  mag- 
nificent land-locked  fresh  water  harbor  in  existence.  The 
concrete  lock  to  be  installed  by  the  Government  in  the 
canal  will  cost  $2,27,5,000  and  will  be  second  largest  in  the 
country.  There  will  be  ample  dockage  facilities  in  both 
lakes  with  the  rail  accommodations  necessary  for  indus- 
trial concerns.     Completion  of  the  canal  will  increase  Se- 


282  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

attle's  water  front  from  fourteen  to  one  hundred  and 
forty  miles. 

The  leading  industries  of  Seattle  are  shipyards,  saw 
mills,  shingle  mills,  flour,  feed  and  cereal  mills,  brick  yards, 
terra  cotta  works,  foundries,  machine  shops,  breweries, 
factories  for  the  manufacture  of  sash,  doors,  blinds,  wood- 
enware,  excelsior,  barrels,  boats,  shoes,  clothing,  cars, 
wagons,  carriages,  furniture,  tinware,  soap,  crackers,  candy, 
pickles,  brooms,  baking  powder,  drugs,  jewelry,  saws,  fish 
nets,  woollen  goods,  trunks,  stoves  and  numerous  household 
commodities  and  food  products.  Seattle  is  becoming  an 
important  industrial  center.  There  are  splendid  sites, 
cheap  power  and  abundance  of  raw  material  here  for 
manufacture. 

Coal  mining  is  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the 
State  of  Washington.  The  coal  fields  extend  over  an  area 
of  several  thousand  square  miles.  All  of  the  large  mines, 
except  those  of  the  Roslyn  district,  are  located  within  fifty 
miles  of  Seattle,  and  the  Roslyn  district  is  less  than  100 
miles  distant  on  a  direct  line.  Washington  and  British 
Columbia  are  the  principal  sources  of  supply  for  all  the 
coal  used  on  the  Pacific  slope.  The  output  of  the  Wash- 
ington mines  is  from  3,500,000  to  4,000,000  tons  per  annum. 

The  fisheries  of  Puget  Sound  have  assumed  vast  pro- 
portions. Washington  leads  all  other  states  in  the  value 
of  this  industry.  More  than  |4,000,000  in  wages  is  paid 
out  annually  and  the  value  of  the  output  runs  from  |10,- 
000,000  to  115,000,000  per  year.  In  addition  to  its  home 
fisheries,  Seattle  is  the  headquarters  and  base  of  supplies 
for  a  large  number  of  leading  companies  engaged  in  the 
salmon  packing  industries  of  Alaska  and  other  places.  In 
addition  to  salmon,  the  fisheries  include  halibut,  cod, 
smelt,  herring,  oysters,  clams  and  crabs.  The  cod  fisheries 
of  Alaska  grow  in  importance  yearly,  and  much  of  the 
product  is  cured  and  marketed  here.  Sealing  and  whaling 
add  largely  to  the  value  of  this  industry. 


SEATTLE  OF  TODAY  283 

Western  Washington  includes  large  areas  devoted 
to  general  farming,  stock-growing,  fruit  raising,  dairying, 
poultry  farming,  bee  keeping.  Every  soil  occupation  is 
engaged  in  successfully.  Diversified  farming  is  being  more 
generally  engaged  in.  Dairying  is  one  of  the  recognized 
profitable  industries,  and  it  is  conceded  that  there  is  no 
better  dairy  country  in  the  world. 

The  city  owns  its  water  system.  The  supply  is  brought 
from  Cedar  River,  in  the  foothills  of  the  Cascade  Mountains, 
a  distance  of  twenty-eight  miles,  by  gravitation.  The 
water  is  soft  and  pure.  The  daily  capacity  of  the  plant  is 
65,000,000  gallons.  Reservoirs  and  stand  pipes  have  a 
capacity  of  272,000,000  gallons.  Average  daily  consumption, 
30,000,000  gallons.  In  addition  to  furnishing  consumers 
with  water  at  a  low  price,  the  system  is  providing  a  source 
of  revenue  and  a  handsome  surplus. 

Seattle  owns  an  electric  light  plant,  which  furnishes 
light  and  power  for  municipal  and  commercial  purposes.  It 
was  put  in  operation  in  1905,  at  an  initial  cost  of  |840,000, 
including  the  distributing  station  and  equipment.  The 
present  plant  has  a  valuation  of  $6,000,000.  Bonds  were 
voted  in  1911  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  water  storage 
capacity  at  Cedar  Lake,  the  source  of  power  for  the  genera- 
tion of  the  electric  current.  This  city-owned  plant,  in 
addition  to  furnishing  light  and  power,  acts  as  a  regulator 
for  prices  charged  for  electricity  by  private  corporations. 
There  is  available  at  present  about  250,000  horse  power. 
Seattle  claims  to  have  the  cheapest  manufacturing  power 
of  any  city  in  the  United  States. 


The  people  of  Seattle  take  great  pride  in  the  ex- 
tensive parks  and  play  grounds  of  the  city.  Twenty-eight 
parks  are  improved  and  opened,  twelve  fully  equipped  play 
grounds  are  in  operation,  and  thirty-one  miles  of  scenic 
boulevard  within  the  city  are  open  to  traffic.  The  Park 
Board  has  under  its  jurisdiction  an  area  of  1,803  acres  and 


284  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

is  constructing  a  boulevard  system  which  when  completed 
will  be  fifty  miles  in  extent,  following  the  lakes,  the  Sound, 
reaching  numerous  sightly  elevations  and  practically 
encircling  the  city. 


Seattle's  public  schools  rank  among  the  best  in  the 
United  States.  The  teaching  force  has  been  carefully 
chosen.  Thoroughness  and  excellence  are  established  in 
the  sixty-one  grade  and  six  high  school  buildings  in  the 
city.     The  present  enrollment  is  32,445. 

The  University  of  Washington  is  located  here  on  a 
commanding  site  of  355  acres,  lying  between  Lake  Union 
and  Lake  Washington.  The  attendance  in  1912  was  over 
2,500.  The  university  is  free  to  the  youth  of  the  State, 
and  is  provided  with  every  facility  for  imparting  a  liberal 
education.  Some  of  the  buildings  on  the  grounds  were 
built  for  the  A.-Y.-P.  Exposition  and  subsequently  donated 
for  university  purposes. 


Seattle  has  an  equable  climate,  with  no  extremes  of 
heat  or  cold.  The  summers  are  cool  or  moderately  warm, 
and  the  winters  are  mild.  There  is  little,  if  any,  snow 
fall,  except  in  the  mountains.  In  the  summer  the  temper- 
ature rarely  reaches  90  degrees,  and  zero  weather  is  un- 
recorded in  the  city.  At  Seattle,  which  is  a  fair  average 
for  Western  Washington,  the  annual  mean  temperature 
is  51.4  degrees,  ranging  from  40.6  in  January  to  64.7 
degrees  in  August.  The  average  high  temperature  is  74 
degrees  in  July  and  70  degrees  in  August,  and  the  average 
low  temperature  is  43  degrees  in  December  and  38  degrees 
in  January.  Seattle  has  an  annual  average  rainfall  of 
35.88  inches. 

Seattle  and  Western  Washington  are  noted  for  their 
healthfulness.  The  records  of  the  Health  Department  at 
Seattle  for  a  number  of  years  show  that  the  average  annual 
death   rate   is   9.3   per  thousand.     Comparison   will    show 


SEATTLE  OF  TODAY  285 

this  is  very  low.  The  nights  are  cool,  insuring  restful 
sleep.     Malaria  and  kindred  diseases  are  unknown. 

The  Puget  Sound  Navy  Yard  is  located  just  across 
the  Sound  from  Seattle.  It  has  facilities  for  the  docking 
of  the  largest  battleships.  Employment  is  given  to  from 
1,200  to  1,500  mechanics.  Expenditures  for  supplies,  pur- 
chased in  Seattle,  exceed  |100,000  per  month. 

Fort  Lawton,  a  U.  S.  Military  Post,  is  situated  within 
the  city  limits.  A  site  of  605  acres  donated  to  the  govern- 
ment by  the  people  of  Seattle  makes  an  ideal  park,  drill 
ground  and  garrison.  Fort  Lawton  is  to  be  made  a  full 
regimental  post. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  TRANSPORTATION 


Fleets  Operating  in  the  Commerce  of  Puget  Sound — 
The  Principal  Steamship  Companies  Engaged  in 
the  Puget  Sound-Alaska  Trade — Routes  and  Dis- 
tances— Importance  of  Dutch  Harbor  and  Prince 
William  Sound  to  Trans-Pacific  Navigation — Fu- 
ture Growth  of  Seattle  Commerce. 


THIS  chapter  mainly  is  statistical,  intended,  for  the 
greater  part,  for  ready  reference  use.  Three  words 
place  the  great  subject  of  this  volume  squarely  be- 
fore the  reader.  These  are  transportation,  commerce  and 
industry.  Industry  comprehends  them  all,  but  the  clas- 
sification naturally  is  in  the  order  just  given. 

As  already  noted,  Seattle  and  Alaska  are  so  closely 
interrelated  as  to  be  inseparable,  to  any  great  extent,  in 
regard  to  these  three  phases  of  material  development.  In 
a  very  wide  sense,  Alaska  is  the  most  important  factor  in 
the  future  commerce  of  the  Pacific,  and  Seattle  is  the 
only  great  Eastern  Pacific  gateway  to  Alaska.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  Government  of  the  United  States  has 
planned  the  construction  of  more  than  1,000  miles  of  rail- 
way in  the  central  portion  of  Alaska,  connecting  the 
great  valley  of  the  Yukon  with  the  North  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  the  establishment  in  Prince  William  Sound  and  at 
Dutch  Harbor  of  great  coaling  stations,  which  can  be 
used  by  the  United  States  Navy,  and  which  will  become 
the  chief  source  of  fuel  supply  for  the  ships  of  commerce 

(286) 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  TRANSPORTATION  287 

plying    between    the    Pacific    Coast    of    America    and    the 
Orient. 

It  is  noted  that  Dutch  Harbor  is  1,727  miles  from 
Seattle,  on  the  great  circle  route  to  the  Orient.  Hence,  the 
importance  of  its  location  at  once  is  apparent,  both  from 
the  standpoint  of  commerce  and  that  of  the  exigencies  of 
war.  It  has  been  observed  in  this  connection  that  steam- 
ships in  either  direction  can  leave  ports  in  the  Orient,  or 
in  America,  with  half  their  present  coal  supply,  and 
thereby  enjoy  greater  cargo  space.  This  view  of  the  sub- 
ject is  of  particular  interest  to  Alaska,  because  it  presages 
a  time,  near  at  hand,  when  direct  commerce  between 
Alaska  and  the  Orient  will  attain  large  proportions. 
Dutch  Harbor  must  also  become  a  most  valuable  half  way 
house  between  Seattle  and  the  Orient. 

From  what  already  has  been  said  concerning  the  vast 
resources  of  Alaska,  those  of  the  Pacific  Northwest,  gen- 
erally, and  the  strategic  location  of  Seattle,  both  in  re- 
spect to  land  and  ocean  transportation,  not  anything  fur- 
ther is  needed  to  indicate  in  what  great  measure  the 
development  of  these  regions  will  contribute  to  the  near 
future  wonderful  growth  of  the  commerce  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean;  and  this  growth  must  carry  with  it  a  greatly  in- 
creased importance  of  these  regions,  commercially  and 
financially. 

In  the  matter  of  ports,  as  we  find  them  today, 
Alaska  naturally  is  divided  into  five  districts.  These  are 
Southeastern  Alaska,  Southwestern  Alaska,  Alaska  Pen- 
insula, Bering  Sea  and  Yukon  River.  In  the  first  named 
the  chief  ports  of  call  are  Nettakahtla,  Ketchikan,  Peters- 
burg, Wrangell,  Treadwell,  Douglas,  Juneau,  Sheep  Creek, 
Haines  and  Skagway.  Public  wharves  are  maintained  at 
most  of  these  places.  The  wharves  at  Treadwell  and 
Sheep  Creek  are  owned  and  operated  by  mining  companies. 

The  chief  ports  of  call  in  the  Southwestern  Alaska 
district  are  Cordova,  Valdez,  Ellamar,  Latouche  and  Sew- 


288  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ard,  all  of  which  have  public  wharves  except  Ellamar.  At 
this  place  freight  has  to  be  lightered. 

The  principal  ports  of  the  Alaska  Peninsula  district, 
which  includes  the  territory  southwesterly,  including  the 
Aleutian  Islands,  are  Knik,  Iliamna,  Kodiak,  Afognak, 
Chignik,  Uyak,  Seldovia,  Karluk,  Dutch  Harbor,  Unalaska 
and  others.  In  most  cases  freight  must  as  yet  be  lightered 
at  these  ports. 

The  chief  ports  of  the  Bering  Sea  district  are  Bristol 
Bay,  Kuskokwim  Bay,  Nome,  St.  Michael,  Kotzebue  Sound 
and  other  approaches.  At  these  places  freight  has  to  be 
lightered,  and  the  ports  are  closed  from  November  1  to 
June  1. 

As  noted  elsewhere,  the  Yukon  district  is  served  by 
steamers  to  St.  Michael,  or  to  Skagway,  and  thence  by 
railway  and  river  boats.  As  yet  there  are  no  wharves  at 
Nome,  or  St.  Michael,  or  other  Bering  Sea  ports,  all 
freight  and  piassenger  business  being  lightered  from  ships 
at  anchor. 


Wonderful  has  been  the  growth  of  the  commerce  of 
Seattle,  and  this  advancement  of  late  years  largely  has  been 
due  to  the  transportation  business  with  Alaska.  It  is  re- 
ported that  the  values  of  the  various  commodities  handled 
over  the  wharves  of  Seattle  in  1913  reached  a  total  of 
1124,130,854. 

The  principal  steamship  companies  operating  from 
Seattle,  and  Puget  Sound  points  to  Alaska,  with  the 
number  of  vessels  owned  by  each,  tonnage,  etc.,  follows: 

1.  The  Pacific-Alaska  Navigation  Company,  Seattle, 
operating  three  steamers,  5,950  tons,  between  Puget  Sound 
points  and  Southeastern  Alaska. 

2.  Alaska  Steamship  Company,  Seattle,  operating 
thirteen  steamers,  22,649  tons,  betw^een  Puget  Sound, 
Southeastern  and  Southwestern  Alaska,  and  Bristol  Bay 
and  Bering  Sea  points,  in  season. 


FORTY-TWU   aTUKV    U   C.    SMITH    BUILDING.   SEATTLE 

I'hnt,,   eo„yri.^Ht    by   Curtis   &   Miller.  Courtesy    r5urns    l.ynian    Snntli. 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  TRANSPORTATION  289 

3.  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company,  Seattle,  twelve 
steamers,  27,700  tons,  operating  between  Puget  Sound 
points,  Alaska  and  Bering  Sea. 

4.  Humboldt  Steamship  Company,  Seattle,  one 
steamer,  500  tons,  operating  an  irregular  service  from  Se- 
attle to  Southeastern  Alaska. 

5.  Swan  Navigation  Company,  one  steamer,  1,100 
tons,  operating  between  Puget  Sound  and  Southeast  and 
Southwest  Alaska. 

6.  Skag-way  Steamship  Company,  Puget  Sound  ter- 
minal, Seattle;  one  steamer,  2,751  tons,  operating  between 
Puget  Sound  and  Southeast  Alaska. 

7.  Northland  Steamship  Company,  Puget  Sound  ter- 
minal, Seattle;  two  steamers,  1,700  tons,  operating  be- 
tween Seattle  and  Southeast  Alaska 

8.  Western  Alaska  Steamship  Company  (W.  C.  Daw- 
son &  Co.),  Seattle,  operating  in  season  a  fleet  of  chartered 
vessels  between  Seattle  and  Puget  Sound  points  and  Bering 
Sea  ports;  connecting  at  St.  Michael  with  the  steamers 
of  the  Northern  Navigation  Company  to  Yukon  and  Tan- 
ana  River  points. 

9.  Alaska  Barge  Company,  eight  barges,  14,600  tons, 
operating  the  fleet  between  Puget  Sound  and  Alaska. 

10.  Puget  Sound  Tug  Boat  Company,  Seattle,  eight 
tugs,  971  tons,  operating  a  fleet  of  ocean-going  tugs,  be- 
tween Seattle  and  Alaska, 

11.  Northwestern  Fisheries  Company,  Seattle,  operat- 
ing a  fleet  of  seven  vessels,  19,840  tons,  and  three  tugs,  284 
tons,  to  Alaska  canneries. 


It  must  be  remembered  that  this  list  covers  only  the 
ocean  transportation  between  Seattle  and  Puget  Sound 
points  and  Alaska,  exclusive  of  vessels  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business  with  the  Northland.     The  inland  transpor- 


Sig    19. 


290  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

tation  business  of  Alaska  is  covered  in  another  place  in 
this  volume,  under  the  chapter  title,  ''The  Great  Yukon 
Vallej." 


In  this  connection  it  is  expedient  to  include  the  fol- 
lowing table  of  Seattle  Alaska  route  distances,  which  is 
predicated  upon  the  "inside  route,"  and  which  is  compiled 
from  Beaton's  "North  Pacific  Ports" : 

SEATTLE  ALASKA  ROUTE  DISTANCES 

Seattle    to    Ketchikan 657  miles 

Ketchikan    to    Petersburg 113  " 

Petersburg    to    Juneau 109  " 

Juneau   to   Yakutat 246  " 

Yakutat  to  Katalla 175  " 

Katalla   to  Cordova 120  " 

Cordova   to   Ellamar 58  " 

Ellamar   to  Ft.    Liscum 21  " 

Ft.    Liscum   to   Valdez 3  " 

Valdez    to    Latouche 84  " 

Valdez    to    Cordova 77  " 

Valdez    to    Ellamar 24  " 

Latouche    to    Seward 62  " 

Seward   to   Pt.    Graham 137  " 

Pt.    Graham   to    Seldovia 16  " 

Seldovia   to   Kenai 75  " 

Kenai    to   Knik 67  " 

Seldovia   to    Homer 14  " 

Homer    to    Kodiak 132  " 

Seldovia    to    Kodiak 122  " 

Knik    to    Kodiak. 255  " 

Ellamar    to    Landlock 22  " 

Landlock    to    Cordova 50  " 


From  the  same  source  we  have  the  wonderful   lesson 
of  the  Panama  Canal  in  distance  figures,  which  gives  us  a 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  TRANSPORTATION 


291 


comparison  of  the  Panama 
tween  Seattle  and  the  foil 
Europe : 


and  Cape  Horn  routes  as  be- 
owing  points   in    x\merica   and 


Miles 

Horn 

Seattle  to —  Route 

Boston    13,876 

Portland,   Me 13,907 

New    York 13,905 

Baltimore  13,979 

Philadelphia    13,952 

Norfolk  13,857 

Charleston   13,856 

Savannah  13,888 

Port    Tampa 14,023 

Pensacola     14,228 

Mobile  14,268 

New  Orleans 14,321 

Galveston  14,497 

Liverpool    14,272 

Hamburg    14,653 

Antwei-p  14,391 

Bordeaux   14,032 

Gibraltar    13,341 


Miles 

Miles 

i*anama 

Distance 

Route 

Saved 

6,200 

7,676 

6,244 

7,663 

6,032 

7,873 

5,959 

8,020 

6,004 

7,948 

5,837 

8,020 

5,622 

8,234 

5,621 

8,267 

5,275 

8,748 

5,407 

8,821 

5,434 

8,834 

5,453 

8,868 

5,557 

8,940 

8,600 

5,666 

9,125 

5,528 

8,863 

5,528 

8,656 

5,376 

8,391 

4,950 

The  second  port  in  importance  in  the  State  of  Wash- 
ington is  Tacoma,  and  this  commercial  city  deserves  atten- 
tion here  because  it  is  the  home  of  the  Pacific-Alaska  Nav- 
igation Company  and  the  Alaska  Coast  Steamshi])  Com- 
pany. Tacoma  has  extensive  dockage  facilities  and  accom- 
modates twenty  steamship  lines.  Chief  among  the  latter 
is  the  Pacific-Alaska  Navigation  Company,  with  executive 
offices  in  the  Perkins  Building,  Tacoma,  with  H.  F.  Alex- 
ander, president;  Chester  Thome,  first  vice-president,  and 
S.  A.  Perkins,  second  vice-president.    Of  course  the  steamers 


292  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

of  this  company  do  a  large  Seattle-Alaska  business.  The 
service  is  known  as  the  Admiral  Line, 

The  vessels  of  the  fleet  consist  of  the  Admiral  Samp- 
son, 300  feet  length,  36  feet  beam,  and  25  feet  depth;  the 
Admiral  Farragut,  the  same  size;  the  Admiral  Dewey,  the 
same  size;  the  Admiral  Schley,  the  same;  the  Admiral 
Watson,  263  feet  length,  38  feet  beam,  and  25  feet  depth; 
the  Admiral  Evans,  the  same  size.  The  service  of  this  line 
is  considered  of  high  class. 

The  Pacific-Alaska  Navigation  Company  carries  United 
States  mail  between  Puget  Sound  and  all  ports  in  Alaska. 
Its  service  covers  all  ports  from  San  Diego,  Cal.,  and 
Kodiak,  Alaska,  including  passenger  and  freight  connec- 
tions with  all  transcontinental  railway  lines  whose  termi- 
nals reach  the  ports  covered.  The  California-Alaska  serv- 
ice and  the  Puget  Sound-Alaska  service  of  the  "Admiral 
Line"  is  accounted  second  to  none. 


The  Alaska  Steamship  Company,  with  executive  head- 
quarters in  the  Lowman  Building,  Seattle,  Wash,,  operates 
from  Seattle  and  Puget  Sound  to  Alaska  ports.  The  chief 
oflficers  are  S,  W.  Eccles,  president,  165  Broadway,  New 
York;  R.  W.  Baxter,  vice-president,  Seattle,  Wash.  The 
vessels  of  the  fleet  belonging  to  this  company  are  the  Ala- 
meda, 3,158  gross  tonnage;  the  Cordova,  2,273  gross  ton- 
nage; the  Dolphin,  824  gross  tonnage;  the  Dora,  320  gross 
tonnage;  the  Dirigo,  823  gross  tonnage;  the  Edith,  2,369 
gross  tonnage;  the  Jefferson,  1,615  gross  tonnage;  the 
Latouche,  2,329  gross  tonnage;  the  Mariposa,  3,158  gross 
tonnage;  the  Northwestern,  3,496  gross  tonnage;  the  Santa 
Ann,  1,059  gross  tonnage;  the  Seward,  2,471  gross  ton- 
nage; the  Victoria,  3,502  gross  tonnage.  This  line  has  di- 
rect service  between  Seattle  and  Ketchikan,  Wrangell, 
Juneau,  Skagway,  Cordova,  Ellamar,  Fort  Liscum,  Valdez, 
Latouche  and  Seward ;  also  Petersburg,  Treadwell,  Douglas, 
Haines,  Sheep  Creek  and  Valdez.     The  Dora  operates  be- 


1 


SEATTLE-ALASKA  TRANSPORTATION  293 

tween  Seward  and  Port  Graham,  Seldovia,  Homer,  Kodiak, 
Uyak,  Karluk,  Gold  Bay,  Chignik,  Unga,  Coal  Harbor,  Sand 
Point,  Belkotsky  and  Unalaska,  of  the  Alaska  Peninsula 
route.  The  steamer  Victoria  operates  to  Nome  and  St. 
Michael. 

The  Western  Alaska  Steamship  Company,  W.  C.  Daw- 
son, president,  operates  vessels  between  Seattle  and  Bering 
Sea  and  Kotzebue  Sound  ports  during  the  open  season. 

The  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company  of  Seattle,  J. 
C.  Ford,  president,  of  Seattle,  and  George  H.  Higbee,  vice- 
president,  of  San  Francisco,  operates  sixteen  steamers, 
namely;  the  Congress,  7,085  tonnage;  the  Governor,  5,250 
tonnage ;  the  President,  5,248  tonnage ;  the  Queen,  2,728  ton- 
nage; the  City  of  Puebla,  2,624  tonnage;  the  Umatilla, 
3,069  tonnage;  the  Senator,  2,409  tonnage;  the  Spokane, 
2,279  tonnage;  the  City  of  Seattle,  1,411  tonnage;  the  City 
of  Topeka,  2,562  tonnage;  the  Montara,  2,562  tonnage;  the 
Eureka,  2,122  tonnage;  the  Meteor,  2,301  tonnage;  the 
Tampico,  2,132  tonnage;  the  Coos  Bay,  544  tonnage;  the 
Delhi,  986  tonnage. 

The  Senator  operates  in  a  regular  passenger  and 
freight  traffic  during  the  season  of  navigation  to  Nome  and 
St.  Michael,  Alaska.  The  Spokane  and  the  City  of  Seattle 
operate  to  Skagway,  calling  at  Prince  Rupert,  B.  C,  Ketchi- 
kan, Wrangell,  Juneau,  Treadwell,  Douglas  and  Haines. 
The  Delhi  plies  between  Seattle  and  Juneau,  calling  at 
Sitka,  Killisnoo  and  ports  on  the  west  side  of  Prince  of 
Wales  Island,  and  the  cannery  ports.  The  Meteor  serves 
between  Seattle  and  Southeastern  Alaska  ports.  Most  of 
the  other  steamers  of  the  fleet  are  engaged  in  the  service 
of  the  Coast  south  of  Puget  Sound. 

The  White  Pass  &  Yukon  route,  which  is  conducted 
by  the  Pacific  &  Arctic  Railway  and  Navigation  Company, 
the  British  Columbia  Yukon  Railway  Company,  the  British 
Yukon  Railway  Company,  and  the  British  Yukon  Naviga- 
tion Company,  maintain  a  headquarters  in  Seattle.     They 


294  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

operate  a  railroad  from  Skagway  to  White  Horse,  river 
steamers  from  White  Horse  to  St.  Michael  and  Tanana 
Kiver  points.  The  three  other  companies  in  this  compact 
operate  steamers  from  White  Horse  to  Dawson  and  other 
points;  on  the  lower  river  sections  and  between  Caribou 
and  Atlin  in  Canada. 


Onlv  such  references  to  Seattle-Alaska  transportation 
and  commerce  are  given  in  the  foregoing  as  are  calculated 
to  indicate  the  datum,  in  respect  of  these  great  interests, 
which  the  status  of  1914  affords.  It  will  be  observed  that 
the  foundation  already  is  laid  for  almost  limitless  expan- 
sion. New  transportation  lines  will  rise  into  function,  and 
those  now  operating  will  enlarge  their  vessel  lists  in  a  ratio 
equal  to  the  development  of  the  resources  of  Alaska  and  the 
Pacific  Northwest.  In  view  of  the  present  status  one  can 
find  no  authority  for  drawing  a  boundary  line  to  the  prob- 
able increase. 


CHAPTER  XXXIV. 


CONCLUSION. 


Important  Lessons  Suggested  by  This  Volume — March 
OF  Material  Progress  Across  the  Continent — Lati- 
tudinal AND  Longitudinal  Advancement — Looking 
Ahead  —  Leaving  the  Things  Behind  —  Opportune 
Opening  op  Alaska — Destiny  op  the  United  States — 
New  Opportunities — Better  Economic  Order. 


IT  would  be  strange,  indeed,  after  all  that  has  been 
said,  and  after  the  assemblage  of  such  a  vast  array 
of  facts  and  figures,  if  valuable  lessons  failed  to 
characterize  the  concluding  paragraphs  of  this  effort.  In 
one  important  sense,  this  work  constitutes  the  opening 
paragraph  of  the  concluding  chapter  of  the  history  of  one 
important  period  of  a  great  continent.  We  have  seen 
how  the  world's  progress  invaded  America  on  the  eastern 
seaboard,  and,  to  some  slight  extent,  in  what  manner 
this  procession  of  human  achievements  has  advanced  from 
the  western  borders  of  the  Atlantic  to  the  eastern  shores 
of  the  Pacific. 

We  have  been  reminded  that  this  procession  of  progress, 
in  its  western  march,  has  expanded  latitudinally,  as  it  has 
advanced  longitudinally,  until  it  has  covered  the  whole  of 
the  North  American  Continent,  with  important  exceptions 
as  to  Mexico,  where  Latin  tendencies  have  raised  a  barrier, 
preventing  that  naturally  great,  rich  country  from  sharing 
fully  in  this  wonderful  development.  We  have  seen,  too, 
in  what  impressive  augmentation  of  the  powers  of  rising 
civilization,   the   forces   of   progress   are   gathering  greater 

(295) 


296  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

energies  for  a  new  era  of  conquest,  as  they  correlate  in  the 
Pacific  States, 

^^'e  have  seen,  I  say,  how  the  wonderful  destiny  of 
human  advancement  looks  not  so  much  on  what  is  left 
behind,  as  it  grasps  the  things  ahead  in  the  w^ay  of  incen- 
tives to  continuous  enterprise  and  conquest.  So  great  and 
all  absorbing  is  this  tendency  that  we  may  discover  in  it  the 
possibility  of  marching  onward,  without  appropriating  all 
the  opportunities  which  this  progress  offers,  from  one 
mile  post  to  another,  as  they  are  overtaken  and  passed. 

The  question  forces  itself  pointedly.  Is  the  race  making 
the  most  of  its  procession  of  opportunities,  as  it  moves 
forward  in  the  other  procession  of  generations?  In  other 
terms,  is  there  not  the  danger  that  those  in  the  rear,  or 
middle  columns  of  human  progress,  who  persist  in  func- 
tioning as  eyes  for  those  on  the  outposts,  may  be  over- 
looking or  underlooking  the  real  opportunities  for  enlarging 
the  happiness  of  mankind? 

In  still  other  concepts  may  the  danger  not  exist  of 
overlooking  Alaska  until  it  is  passed  by?  Suppose  the 
race  had  undertaken  to  commercially  carry  the  banner  of 
Christian  civilization  across  the  Pacific  and  into  the  Orient 
without  the  aid  of  the  Panama  Canal?  Or,  think,  if  you 
will,  of  an  attempt  to  bring  this  canal  into  full  function 
as  a  factor  of  trans-oceanic  commerce,  while  the  mighty 
resources  of  Alaska,  so  essential,  to  give  full  meaning  to 
transportation,  remain  undeveloped.  Would  not  such  a 
policy  reach  an  anomalous  climax? 

These  mighty  agencies  of  progress  must  go  along  to- 
gether. As  has  been  indicated,  the  canal  without  the 
development  of  Alaskan  resources  could  reach  only  a 
partial  success,  while  the  exploitation  of  the  partly  hidden 
wealth  of  Alaska  without  the  canal  would  fall  short  of 
giving  its  destined  bounty  to  mankind.  With  these  two 
mighty  instrumentalities  for  human  gain  working  jointly, 
the  present  generation  will  witness  a  wonderful  growth 
of  all   the  Pacific   States,  in   population,  industrial  enter- 


CONCLUSION  297 

prise  and  commercial  importance,  constituting  a  normal 
foundation  for  the  commercial  supremacy  of  the  Pacific, 
and  the  final  transformation  of  the  Orient. 

The  lands  over  which  progress  makes  its  wonderful 
pilgrimage  of  continuous  gain  should  be  completely  de- 
veloped, else  this  pilgrimage  will  fall  short  of  destined 
bounty.  If  Alaska,  for  example,  should  be  passed,  in  any 
important  measure,  mankind  soon  would  find  itself 
short  of  gold,  of  copper,  of  coal  and  of  many  other  in- 
dispensable things.  And  yet  there  are  people  in  our  own 
country  who  appear,  from  the  attitude  which  they  present, 
to  believe  that  the  race  can  get  along  well  enough  without 
Alaska.  Such  a  doctrine  is  probably  as  great  a  folly  as 
would  have  been  the  idea  of  dispensing  with  Pennsylvania, 
or  Montana,  or  California,  or  the  iron  and  copper  regions 
at  the  head  of  the  Great  Lakes. 

Before  another  generation  is  realized,  the  people  of 
the  United  States  will  acknowledge  that  the  greatest 
achievement  of  the  Pioneers  of  the  West  in  the  first 
quarter  of  the  Twentieth  Century  was  the  re-discovery 
of  Alaska, — of  Alaska,  the  wonderful  land  of  bountiful 
resources  and  new  opportunities.  At  least  this  is  the 
settled  belief  of  the  writer. 


Another  important  lesson,  at  least  suggested  by  this 
volume,  is  somewhat  in  the  fact  of  a  new  revelation  of 
the  destiny  of  the  United  States.  It  may  all  be  said 
short,  in  the  expression  that  this  nation,  now  the  most 
western  great  power  of  the  earth,  soon  is  to  become  the 
most  central.  The  geographic  boundaries  of  civilization 
rapidly  are  changing.  In  a  wonderful  truth  the  external 
reality  of  change  is  the  all  dominant  force  in  the  evolution 
of  human  life. 

One  can  see  both  in  its  origin  and  the  trend  of  its 
progress  that  the  United  States  is  destined  to  become  one 
of  the  greatest,  if  not,  for  a  long  period,  the  greatest  of 


298  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO   THE  WORLD 

the  commercial  nations  of  the  world.  As  all  can  see,  it 
rapidly  is  becoming  the  embodiment  of  a  new  nationality. 
To  this  evolution  the  commerce  of  the  world  has  con- 
tributed, until,  already,  in  our  day  the  Great  American 
Xationality  presents,  in  a  process  of  making,  the  strongest 
potentialities  of  blood,  language,  lore,  faith,  courage, 
spirit  and  brotherhood  of  all  the  races  of  mankind.  These 
contributions  are  being  fluxed  into  a  new  compound,  not 
distinctively  manifesting  a  dominancy  of  any  one  prior 
nationality,  but  rather  a  wonderful  blending  of  the  sur- 
viving elements  of  them  all. 

As  Max  Mueller  sees  all  the  religions  of  mankind 
compounding  into  one  surviving  unity,  in  like  manner 
can  the  writer  behold,  in  the  rising  new  race  of  America, 
a  more  excellent  manhood  and  womanhood  than  has  yet 
adorned  the  earth.  But  this  realization  will  not  be  a 
final  type.  A  greater  will  follow  it,  and  the  desert, 
forsaken  lands  of  the  world  will  bloom  again  to  welcome 
its   advent. 

But  America  will  have  its  great  period  of  world  ruler- 
ship,  and  those  who  projected  and  constructed  the 
Panama  Canal,  and  those  instrumental  in  the  development 
of  Alaska,  and  the  industries  and  commerce  of  the  Pacific 
West  are  among  the  builders  of  this  incoming  new  age. 


Another  valuable  element  of  instruction  which  this 
collection  of  data,  and  assemblage  of  observations  sug- 
gests is  found  along  economic  lines.  We  have  been  de- 
claring in  theory  that  the  natural  wealth  of  this  great 
continent  is  the  rightful  heritage  of  the  people  whose 
heads  and  hands  develop  it, — of  all  the  people  who  will 
work,  on  the  basis  of  equal  opportunity  to  all.  while,  in 
practice,  we  have  realized  the  industry  of  the  many  for 
the  material  benefit  of  the  few.  No  sooner  were  the 
doors  of  Alaska  partly  opened  to  the  world's  enterprise, 
than   the  hand   of  designing  monopoly  was   discovered   at 


CONCLUSION  299 

work  in  the  Territory.  A  few  sought  to  appropriate  the 
wealth  of  that  country  to  the  exclusion  of  the  multitudes 
for  whom  nature  prepared  these  bounties.  A  halt  had  to 
be  imposed,  and  this  halt,  in  part,  is  what  put  the  ''lid" 
on  Alaska.  The  struggle  of  readjustment  followed,  and 
in  this  the  national  government  extended  a  supporting 
and  regulating  hand. 

This  manifestation  of  governmental  control  came  in 
response  to  a  somewhat  misguided  economic  agitation 
that  has  created  unrest  in  the  United  States  during  the 
past  twenty-five  years,  and  which,  in  recent  years  has 
culminated  in  destructive  violence.  It  is  hoped  the 
country  has  learned  one  important  lesson  in  this  respect, 
namely,  that  it  is  unsafe  to  allow  human  enterprise  the 
full  scope  of  personal  human  selfishness,  and  that  the 
wiser  plan  is  found  in  the  active  presence  of  a  strong 
governmental  control  of  all  industrial  undertakings  cal- 
culated to  affect  the  social  body  of  mankind.  In  this 
view  the  National  Government  of  the  United  States,  be- 
holding in  Alaska  a  vast  undeveloped  empire  has  seized 
upon  it,  on  behalf  of  the  whole  people,  in  a  plan  of 
material  aid  and  equitable  control  which  promises  to 
bring  into  force  a  better  industrial  and  economic  order 
in   the   whole  country. 

The  idea  for  the  development  of  Alaska  appears  wisely 
to  be  not  to  allow  the  establishment  of  industrial  and 
transportation  monopolies  or  combines  in  that  new  land, 
in  the  careless  hope  of  being  able  to  control  them  after 
they  gain  a  powerful  foothold,  but  to  begin  and  continue 
development  under  government  regulation  in  such  a  way 
as  to  secure  a  square  deal  for  individual  industry  and 
thrift  in  that  great  country.  This  new  movement  invests 
the  present  Alaska  program  of  the  Federal  Government 
with  absorbing  interest,  and  it  closely  will  be  observed 
as  the  years  go  by. 


300  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

An  equally  important  lesson  is  at  hand  in  the  recently 
developed  attitude  of  certain  Eastern  interests  in  appar- 
ent opposition  to  the  speedy  exploitation  of  Alaskan  re- 
sources. This  attitude  came  into  view  when  it  was  sought 
to  obtain  from  the  Congress  of  the  United  States  an  initial 
appropriation  for  the  construction  of  a  trunk  line  system 
of  railroads  in  Alaska,  for  the  purpose  of  founding  the 
base  of  an  adequate  transportation  plan  in  that  country. 
It  soon  became  plain  that  selfish  Eastern  interests  were 
active  in  efforts  to  make  use  of  the  widespread  ignorance 
of  the  people  of  the  East  concerning  the  real  value  of 
Alaska  as  a  wealth  producing  country.  This  manifestation 
made  a  general  educational  movement,  as  to  the  real 
status  of  this  new  northland  advisable  and  necessary, 
and  the  Seattle  Chamber  of  Commerce  came  to  the  rescue 
in  a  most  valuable  and  effective  campaign.  The  good  re- 
sults of  this  work  teach  us,  as  elsewhere  stated  in  this 
volume,  the  necessity  for  a  continuation  of  the  propaganda. 


Probably  the  most  important  lesson  to  be  gathered 
from  this  volume  by  the  average  reader  is  to  be  found 
on  the  line  of  the  neiv  opportunities  which  now  are  being 
made  available  through  this  movement  of  the  National 
Government  to  exploit  the  resources  of  Alaska.  These 
comprehend  a  wide  scope,  and  include  the  prospect  of 
the  wage  earner,  the  small  business  need,  the  ambition  of 
the  capitalist,  the  miner,  the  manufacturer,  the  agricul- 
turist, the  stock  raiser,  the  seeker  after  employment  or 
business  in  the  transportation  industry,  the  merchandiser 
and   the   speculator. 

The  arena  of  these  new  opportunities  includes  Alaska, 
the  State  of  Washington,  the  City  of  Seattle,  and  the 
whole  Pacific  Northwest.  Business,  in  these  sections  of 
the  country  today  may  be  likened  to  a  dense  fog  just 
before  it  begins  to  lift.  In  a  sense  the  prospect  is  dark 
from    every    viewpoint.      But    little    light    can    reach    the 


CONCLUSION  301 

natural  vision.  The  way  is  closed.  One  cannot  see  in 
what  direction  it  is  safe  or  profitable  to  proceed.  It  is 
the  occasion  for  courage  and  faith.  The  great  program 
of  the  government  is  only  beginning  to  operate.  Progress 
has  not  get  gone  far  enough  to  shed  the  light  of  achieve- 
ment. The  business  fog  which  so  long  has  hung  in  density 
over  the  country  scarcely  has  begun  to  lift.  One  cannot 
see  far,  but  distant  sounds  fall  upon  the  ear  now  and 
then  to  inspire  the  hopeful.  As  I  write,  the  Alaska  cable 
brings  these  meagre  tidings : 


ALASKA  COMMISSIONERS  INSPECT 
SEWARD  ROAD. 

Special  Cable  to  Associated  Press. 


I 

l^t  Seward,    Alaska,   June    14. — W.    E.    Edes   and 

^  Lieut.  Fred  Mears,  U.  S.  A.,  of  the  Alaska  Railroad 

^  Engineering    Commission,    arrived    today    with    a 

^  party  of  surveyors  from  Seattle,  en  route  to  Ship 

^i  Creek,    to   begin   work   on   the   survey   of   possible 

%•  routes   for  the  government  railroad   to  the   Mata- 

{t  nuska  coal  field.  ^ 

^>  Mr.  Edes  and  Lieutenant  Mears  made  an  in-     !| 

^>  spection  trip  today  over  the  Alaska  Northern  Rail-     !| 

^  road,  which  runs  from  Seward  ninety  miles  toward     2 

f  the  interior,  and  departed  late  tonight  for  Ship  Creek.     !| 

i  After  establishing  a  camp  at  Ship  Creek,  Mr.  Edes     !| 

'  will  return  to  Seward  to  establish  headquarters  for     !f 

^1:  the  engineers. 


We  knew  of  course,  that  the  Alaska  Railroad  Engi- 
neering Commission  had  left  Seattle  for  the  north  wonder- 
land, but  this  is  the  first  news  of  their  activity   on   the 


302  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

ground.  It  comes  like  the  first  streak  of  dawn.  It 
inspires  a  new  and  higher  hope.  It  is  to  be  followed  by 
other  and  fuller  light.  The  fog  soon  will  raise,  opening 
the  new  prospect  to  clear  vision.  But  this  is  not  the  time 
to  wait.  This  is  the  very  hour  in  which  one  should  invest, 
because  it  is  full  of  advantages, — full  of  profit-gaining 
opportunities.  It  is  not  the  time  to  sell  but  the  hour  to 
buy.  One  owning  a  small  business  in  Seattle  or  Western 
Washington,  or  in  Alaska,  should,  of  all  times  refuse  to 
sell  out  now.  To  hold  on  a  few  months  longer  probably 
will  be  to  realize  unexpected  rewards.  On  the  other  hand 
this  is  the  time  to  buy,  or  to  invest  in  the  newly  dawning 
opportunities.  The  people  should  hold  on  to  what  they 
have,  and  watch  the  fog  lifting.  The  people  of  the  East 
soon  will  begin  to  pour  into  the  Western  country  on  the 
way  to  Alaska,  or  to  search  for  employment  or  business 
openings  in  or  near  this  Gateway.  By  this  time  in  1915, 
the  streets  of  Seattle,  the  steamships  running  to  Alaska, 
and  the  towns  and  cities  of  the  Puget  Sound  region  prob- 
ably will  be  over  crowded.  This  means  a  great  increase  of 
the  status  of  all  classes  of  business  in  the  localities  named. 

In  this  realization  people  who  may  have  sold  out, 
greatly  will  regret  the  action,  unless  their  sale  was  in  the 
nature  of  another  business  investment,  because  an  ordinary 
business  location  then,  in  the  settled  belief  of  the  writer, 
will  command  more  than  double  what  it  will  this  year. 
But,  of  course,  business  and  industrial,  as  well  as  employ- 
ment opportunities  will  have  multiplied,  and  there  will 
be  a  field  for  new  enterprises  on  many  lines. 

But  these  new  opportunities  are  for  the  people  of 
the  East  and  Middle  AVest,  as  well  as  for  those  already 
located  in  the  Pacific  States,  and,  it  safely  may  be  pre- 
dicted that  thousands  of  those  now  distant  from  this 
section  of  the  country  will  be  among  the  first  to  seize 
them.  This  is  due  to  the  strange  anomaly  that  very  often 
those  closest  to  valuable  business  openings  are  among  the 
last  to  discover  them.     Besides  this  the  severe  depression 


I 


CONCLUSION  303 

which,  for  several  years,  has  spread  over  the  West,  as 
well  as  the  East,  finds  business  conditions  in  a  great 
portion  of  the  country  at  such  a  low  ebb  that  the  people 
appear  to  be  slow  in  awakening  to  their  new  advantages. 
Industrial  arteries  probably  will  not  assume  a  strong 
flow  until  new  life  is  infused  in  them  by  the  approach 
of  the  people  from  the  East.  The  latter  already  are 
making   their   appearance   in    Seattle. 


But  turning  to  the  greater  lesson  of  new  oppor- 
tunities within  the  Territory  of  Alaska,  and  to  that 
phase  of  our  subject  which  appeals  to  all  the  world,  I 
desire  once  again  to  quote  from  Gov.  J.  F.  A.  Strong  of 
Alaska,  this  time  from  an  able  article  written  by  him, 
which  appeared  in  The  Westerner  in  May,  1914.  He 
says: 

"In  the  public  mind,  Alaska  is  looked  upon  as  a 
country  that  is  solely  a  producer  of  gold,  largely  from  al- 
luvial, or  placer  deposits;  the  millions  of  dollars  annually 
produced  from  its  fisheries,  and  their  steadily  growing  im- 
portance, are  not  given  adequate  consideration;  its  grow- 
ing copper  production,  with  its  vast  possibilities,  receives 
but  passing  notice;  the  wealth  of  timber  in  the  southern 
sections  has  scarcely  been  realized;  its  agricultural  pos- 
sibilities are  just  beginning  to  be  considered  worthy  of 
some  attention,  while  its  coal  lands,  yet  wholly  unde- 
veloped, are  vast  in  extent  and  the  coal  is  of  superior 
quality.  Besides,  Alaska  has  iron  deposits,  oil  fields,  silver 
and  lead,  tin,  graphite,  gypsum,  marble  and  many  other 
natural  resources  which  all  the  world  needs.  To  an 
Alaskan  all  this  is  known;  to  the  people  of  the  United 
States  it  is  a  matter  of  indistinct  knowledge  or  is  not 
known  at  all." 

The  foregoing  constitutes  an  embodiment  of  new 
opportunities  which  teaches  us  that  this  new  northland 
is  sending  out  an  invitation  to  the  capital,  skill  and  en- 


304  ALASKA;  IT8  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

terprise  of  the  world,  which  probably  will  engage  millions 
of  human  beings  and  billions  of  dollars  in  their  develop- 
ment, and  which  will  add  many  billions  to  the  wealth  of 
mankind.  This  is  the  greater  lesson  which  this  volume 
strongly  suggests. 

It  is  safe  to  say,  in  conclusion  of  this  efifort,  that 
a  new  era,  a  period  of  constructive  and  permanent  develop- 
ment is  now  beginning  to  spread  over  Alaska,  and  that  its 
future  is  filled  with  much  brighter  promise  than  ever 
before.  The  commercial  significance  of  the  country  is 
seen  in  its  25,000  miles  of  coast  line,  and  its  6,000  miles 
of  navigable  inland  waterways. 


The  End. 


DIAGRAAf  SHOWING  WATERFRONT  OF  SEATTLK— 140   M  I  LFS 
OF  FRESH   AND   SALT   WATER    DOCKAGE 


Oiiili-tesy    Krcill    Map    Co. 


APPENDIXES 


APPENDIX  I. 


Northern  Canadian  Railroads. 


In  Alaska,  interest  naturally  is  awakened  in  the  more  northern 
Canadian  Transcontinental  lines.  In  the  course  of  its  work,  the 
Alaska  Railroad  Commission  secured  considerable  information  in 
regard  to  railroad  construction  in  the  northwestern  part  of  Canada. 
This  the  commission  thought  necessary  for  two  reasons,  namely: 

First.  The  commission  had  under  consideration  two  railway 
routes  (those  based  on  Skagway  and  on  Haines)  which  had  been  pro- 
posed to  reach  the  lower  Yukon  from  Alaskan  terminals,  but  each 
with  a  long  stretch  of  line  passing  through  Canadian  territory;  and 

Second.  A  branch  line  has  been  proposed  to  extend  from  a 
point  of  Canada's  most  northerly  transcontinental  line  directly  into 
the  Yukon  Valley,  and  while  this  branch  line  was  not  under  con- 
struction and  was  projected  to  lie  entirely  in  Canadian  territory,  yet 
if  completed,  it  would  connect  with  any  system  of  railroads  in  the 
Yukon  Valley  and  would  have  an  influence  on  Alaskan  transporta- 
tion problems  that  would  require  study. 

Examination  of  Canadian  work  further  seemed  desirable  for 
the  following  reasons: 

Actual  railroad  construction  in  Alaska  has  not  been  extensive. 
In  Canada,  much  construction  is  under  way,  and  a  great  deal  of 
this  is  of  the  class  that  might  be  called  pioneer  work,  where  con- 
struction is  in  virgin  country  not  differing  greatly  in  character  from 
large  sections  of  Alaska.  It  was  desired  to  obtain  data  as  to  costs 
of  construction  and  operation,  and  information  as  to  tonnage  and 
growth  of  commerce  after  completion  of  the  work,  as  it  was  be- 
lieved that  all  such  data  would  be  useful  to  supplement  the  Alaska 
data  on  hand. 

In  addition  to  this  examination  into  physical  character,  the  com- 
mission obtained  some  data  as  to  the  Canadian  Government's  policy 
in  encouragement  of  such  pioneer  railroad  construction.  It  was 
necessary  to  take  up  this  question,  as  it  was  believed  that  if  either 
of  the  two  Alaskan-Canadian  roads  were  constructed  the  effect  of 
such  assistance  as  Canada  might  give  to  the  portion  of  the  line 
lying  within  Dominion  territory  would  have  a  direct  bearing  on 
costs  of  construction  and  operation. 

There  are  in  Canada  a  few  examples  of  railroads  owned  and 
operated  by  the  Government,  and  of  railroads  owned  and  leased  by 
the  Government,  and  many  examples  of  railroads  assisted  by  vari- 
ous methods,  the  assistance  being  granted  not  only  by  the  Dominion 
Government  but  by   the   Provinces   and  municipalities.     While  the 

(305) 


ig.   20. 


306  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

now  well-established  policy  of  Government  assistance  dates  well 
back,  the  past  few  years  marks  the  greatest  activity.  The  examples 
of  Government-owned  railroads  now  in  operation  or  under  lease 
contain  nothing  that  bear  on  the  questions  above  referred  to.  They 
all  occur  in  the  eastern  Provinces  and  are,  in  the  main,  examples 
of  early  construction.  Similarly  the  Canadian  Pacific  system,  Cana- 
da's first  transcontinental  line,  received  great  assistance.  But  the 
Canadian  policy  toward  it  was  adopted  in  large  measure,  as  a  con- 
dition to  the  forming  of  the  confederation;  and  while  it  was  en- 
tered into  mainly  to  develop  the  northwest  Provinces  for  settlement, 
it  may  be  here  briefly  passed  over  with  the  statement  that,  in  general, 
the  Government  assistance  closely  parallels  United  States  practice 
in  assisting  transcontinental  roads  at  about  the  same  time  or 
earlier. 

The  largest  and  most  important  work,  however,  that  is  now 
engaging  the  Dominion  Government  is  the  construction  of  the  Na- 
tional Transcontinental  Railway,  known  popularly  as  the  Grand 
Trunk  Pacific.  Under  agreements  dated  in  1903  and  modified  in 
1904,  ratified  by  the  Dominion  acts  of  those  years,  the  Grand  Trunk 
Pacific  Railway  Co.  has  undertaken  certain  obligations  with  respect 
to  a  line  of  railway  wholly  in  Canada,  extending  from  Moncton,  a 
seaport  in  New  Brunswick,  to  Prince  Rupert,  the  Pacific  terminus 
in  British  Columbia,  a  distance  of  3,600  miles.  The  railway  is  com- 
posed of  two  divisions,  namely,  the  eastern  division,  extending  from 
Moncton  to  Quebec,  thence  westerly  through  the  northern  parts  of 
the  Provinces  of  Quebec  and  Ontario  to  Winnipeg;  and  the  west- 
ern division,  from  Winnipeg  to  Prince  Rupert,  British  Columbia. 
The  eastern  division  is  being  constructed  by  the  Government  and  on 
completion  is  to  be  leased  to  and  operated  by  the  company  for  a 
period  of  50  years,  of  which  period  the  first  7  years  will  be  free  of 
rent,  the  balance  of  the  period  calling  for  a  rental  of  3  per  cent  of 
the  cost  of  construction,  exclusive  of  equipment,  which  is  to  be 
furnished  by  the  company.  The  company  is  constructing  the  west- 
ern division  under  the  following  arrangement:  The  Government 
guarantees  the  payment  of  principal  and  interest  on  the  bonds  to 
an  amount  equal  to  75  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  actual  construction, 
which  is  supervised  by  the  Government;  but  it  is  further  provided 
that  this  amount  of  guaranty  is  not  to  exceed  $13,000  per  mile  in 
respect  to  the  prairie  section  from  Winnipeg  to  the  eastern  limit  of 
the  Rocky  Mountain  section,  established  at  Wolf  Creek,  120  miles 
west  of  Edmonton. 

From  Quebec  westward,  excepting  at  and  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
city  of  Winnipeg,  this  transcontinental  system  is  entirely  in  a  virgin 
countrj%  and  is  being  constructed  principally  for  freight  haulage  at 
low  cost  to  handle  the  heavy  crops  of  grain  expected  to  result  from 
the  rapid  development  of  the  large  areas  of  land  opened  up  and  tribu- 
tary to  the  system.  It  will,  however,  also  provide  for  efficient  trans- 
continental service.  The  grades  are  low  (0.4  per  cent  against  east- 
bound  traffic,  excepting  a  20-mile  stretch  of  1  per  cent  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains,  and  0.6  per  cent  against  west-bound  traffic)  and  the 
sharpest  curve  is  6  degrees.  The  expense  of  construction  as  against 
the  2  per  cent  grades  and  10  degree  curves  usual  in  most  transcon- 
tinental lines  is  probably  at  least  doubled.    The  average  cost  of  the 


APPENDIX  307 

mileage  from  Winnipeg  to  Moncton  is  about  $85,000  per  mile,  ex- 
clusive of  rolling  stock  and  of  the  great  bridge  at  Quebec. 

It  is  expected  that  this  system  will  be  completed  and  ready  for 
through  traffic  in  1914,  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  large 
Government  expenditures  on  the  eastern  division  of  this  project 
are  defrayed  by  direct  appropriations  from  Dominion  revenue,  with- 
out the  necessity  of  bond  issues. 

There  has  been  under  consideration  the  construction  of  a  branch 
line  extending  from  Hazelton,  in  the  mountain  section  of  this 
system,  to  Dawson,  but  a  decision  to  construct  this  branch  has  not 
yet  been  made.  As  is  generally  known,  the  line  known  as  the  Pa- 
cific Great  Eastern,  from  Vancouver,  B.  C,  to  Fort  George,  crossing 
and  connecting  with  the  Grand  Trunk  Pacific  at  that  point,  is  under 
construction  under  the  auspices  of  the  British  Columbia  Provincial 
Government.  This  road  is  assisted  to  the  extent  of  $35,000  a  mile 
by  the  Government.  The  construction  work  is  in  the  hands  of 
Foley  &  Welch,  contractors.    It  is  being  pushed  for  early  completion. 

The  Canadian  Government  has  recently  decided  to  construct  a 
line  from  the  great  wheat  belt  northward  to  Hudson  Bay,  with  a 
view  of  providing  a  summer  water  route  with  a  short  rail  haul  to 
the  grain  market  of  Liverpool.  This  project  involves  about  400 
miles  of  construction. 

The  construction  of  the  Timiskaming  &  Northern  Ontario  Rail- 
road forms  a  most  interesting  study,  as  conditions  here  closely 
parallel  those  found  in  Alaska.  This  is  a  railroad  that  was  pro- 
jected by  the  provincial  government  of  Ontario,  and  at  the  time 
of  its  projection  the  Government  had  no  assurance  that  supporting 
traflSc  could  be  expected  for  a  considerable  period  after  completion. 
The  province  of  Ontario  was  unprovided  with  railroads  except  in 
its  narrow  southern  portion.  The  largest  part  of  the  provincial 
territory  was  north  of  any  railroad  and  extended  to  the  waters  of 
James  Bay,  a  large  arm  at  the  southern  end  of  Hudson  Bay.  The 
climate  of  this  portion  does  not  differ  materially  from  that  of  the 
interior  of  Alaska.  It  was  entirely  unsettled  by  reason  of  the  ab- 
sence of  transportation  facilities,  but  was  known  to  have  some 
timber  resources,  agricultural  possibilities,  and  prospective  mineral 
wealth.  The  basic  idea,  however,  in  its  construction,  was  the  devel- 
opment of  the  virgin  territory  which  comprised  the  larger  part 
of  the  Province,  and  which  held  out  promise  of  reasonably  quick 
settlement  by  home  builders.  The  success  of  this  enterprise  is  now 
assured,  its  construction  having  effected  the  purposes  for  which  it 
was  designed,  in  settlement  of  the  region,  development  of  the  agri- 
cultural and  timber  resources,  and  in  the  discovery  of  a  rich  min- 
eral deposit  (the  "Cobalt"  field)  which  was  not  known  to  exist 
when  the  project  was  undertaken.  As  originally  projected,  its  ter- 
minus was  to  have  been  in  the  heart  of  the  wilderness,  and  called 
for  about  50  miles  less  construction  than  has  been  executed,  but 
the  extension  was  decided  upon  for  obvious  reasons  as  soon  as  the 
route  of  the  National  Transcontinental  line  was  fixed,  and  was 
made  to  effect  a  junction  with  that  line.  This  can  not,  however, 
be  regarded  as  having  had  a  material  bearing  on  the  success  of  the 
provincial  project,  which  was  adopted  and  construction  begun  be- 
fore the  transcontinental  project  was  undertaken. 


308  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 


APPENDIX  II. 


Makket  for  Alaskan  Coal. 


As  repeatedly  noted  throughout  this  volume,  Alaska  is  suf- 
fering from  high  rates  enforced  on  all  supplies  by  lack  of  proper 
transportation  facilities.  Unfortunately,  states  the  Alaska  Rail- 
road Commission,  in  1913,  about  six  years  ago,  just  as  railroad 
construction  appeared  most  promising,  the  question  of  the  develop- 
ment of  coal  resources  was  precipitated  with  great  rancor  and 
with  considerable  misrepresentation  on  both  sides.  This  has  re- 
sulted in  an  absolute  cessation  of  railroad  construction  and  a 
gradual  shutting  down  of  railroad  operations,  which  is  now  almost 
complete.  No  definite  policy  in  regard  to  Alaska  coal  lands  has 
been  determined  on,  and  no  one  can  safely  predict  when  coal- 
mining operations  on  a  commercial  scale  will  be  begun.  There 
is  much  confusion  of  counsel  as  to  the  proper  methods  to  adopt  to 
remedy  this  unfortunate  situation. 

While  this  has  been  unfortunate  to  the  entire  Pacific  sea- 
board, which  needs  a  low-priced  fuel,  the  result  to  Alaskans  has 
been  particularly  distressing.  There  are  many  claimants  to  coal 
land  in  Alaska  who  have  been  unable  to  obtain  patents  to  which 
they  feel  they  are  entitled.  There  are  owners  of  other  kinds  of 
mineral  properties  who  can  neither  sell  nor  work  them  because 
transportation  costs  are  above  the  point  where  operations  can  be 
carried  on  at  a  profit,  and  who  feel  that  the  interruption  to  rail- 
road work  has  prevented  the  development  of  their  properties.  There 
are  numerous  promising  mineral  fields  which  are  kept  closed  by 
the  present  condition  of  transportation,  as  only  the  richest  dis- 
coveries would  prove  of  value.  By  far  the  greater  number  of  those 
who  desire  the  development  of  Alaska,  however,  have  no  direct 
interest  in  any  coal  lands,  the  claimants  to  which  are  few  in  num- 
ber. The  interests  of  most  of  the  settlers  in  Alaska  are  intimately 
bound  up  in  the  business  revival  which  is  expected  as  soon  as 
the  coal  lands  are  opened  and  railroad  construction  follows. 

The  situation  above  referred  to  is  particularly  to  be  deprecated 
on  account  of  its  effect  on  the  coal  situation.  It  is  believed  that 
except  for  the  controversy  precipitated  six  years  ago,  at  least  one 
of  the  coal  fields  would  have  been  extensively  developed,  and  if  it 
contains  valuable  deposits,  as  seems  probable,  markets  might  have 
been  developed  by  this  time  from  which  other  fuels  would  have 
found  it  difficult  to  dislodge  it.  This  opportunity  may  now  be 
lost,  as  the  California  oils  and  the  eastern  coals  via  Panama  may 
largely  operate  to  keep  Alaskan  coal  out  of  any  west  coast  markets 
except  for  local  use. 

The  United  States  Navy  now  uses  coal  on  the  Pacific  Coast,  its 
ships  being  supplied  from  its  two  depots  in  Puget  Sound  and  San 
Francisco  Bay.  Most  of  this  coal  is  shipped  around  Cape  Horn 
and  costs  about  $7.30  per  ton  delivered  at  San  Francisco  in  foreign 
bottoms  and  about  $2  more  if  shipped  in  domestic  bottoms.  This 
price  includes  the  cost  of  the  coal  and  will  vary  considerably, 
principally  on  account  of  the  state  of  the   transportation  market. 


APPENDIX  309 

Coal  is  also  shipped  to  Manila  for  the  use  of  the  Asiatic  fleet,  some 
around  Cape  Horn  and  some  around  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The  cost 
at  Manila  is  about  $9  per  ton  in  foreign  bottoms,  including  the  cost 
of  the  coal  and  runs  considerably  higher  in  domestic  bottoms. 
These  costs  vary  with  the  transportation  market.  The  Navy  also 
maintains  a  storage  pile  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  where  it  is  now 
engaged  in  the  construction  of  a  large  coal  storage  plant. 

The  total  coal  consumption  of  the  Navy  is  between  700,000 
and  800,000  tons  annually,  and  of  this  about  150,000  tons  are 
used  in  the  Pacific,  exclusive  of  that  supplied  to  the  Asiatic  fleet. 
It  is  estimated  that  the  department  will  require  300,000  tons  an- 
nually on  our  Pacific  Coast  after  the  completion  of  the  canal,  as  it 
is  anticipated  that  a  large  part  of  the  fleet  now  on  the  Atlantic 
Coast  will  be  frequently  transferred  to  the  Pacific. 

The  Navy  Department  will  probably  construct  coaling  sta- 
tions at  different  points  in  the  Pacific  and  provide  them  with 
coal  piles  of  about  200,000  tons  each.  There  may  be  three  or  four 
such  equipments,  and  to  complete  the  storage  from  600,000  to  800,- 
000  tons  in  excess  of  current  consumption  will  be  required  within 
a  period  of  a  few  years.  It  is  quite  likely  that  after  the  comple- 
tion of  the  canal  the  Navy  will  be  in  the  market  for  coal  for 
use  and  storage  in  the  Pacific  to  the  extent  of  about  450,000  tons 
annually,  until  the  coal  storage  plants  are  filled.  This  market, 
however,  will  never  exceed  this  figure,  as  new  ships  are  being 
equipped  for  oil  burning.  This  large  demand  will  cease  as  soon 
as  the  storage  piles  are  stocked,  and  the  regular  demand  will  begin 
to  decline  as  the  coal-burning  ships  pass  out.  Purchases  of  this 
extent  can  not  be  definitely  planned  and  the  figures  are  given  as 
a  maximum.  It  may  be  stated,  however,  that  to  be  assured  of 
any  portion  of  this  market  the  Alaska  coal  will  first  have  to  show 
its  suitability  and  then  meet  the  price  of  the  known  and  estab- 
lished eastern  coals,  such  as  New  River,  Pocahontas,  and  Georges 
Creek.  The  best  information  at  hand  seems  to  indicate  that  while 
Alaska  coal  seems  to  be  suitable  as  to  composition  it  may  run  too 
high  in  slack  to  meet  naval  requirements. 

Besides  changing  the  quantities  required  by  the  Navy,  the  com- 
pletion of  the  Panama  Canal  will  effect  an  immediate  change  in 
the  Pacific  coal  markets.  This  is  difficult  to  forecast,  depending 
as  it  does  on  prices  of  coal  in  the  East  and  on  the  condition  of 
the  transportation  market.  It  is  probable  that,  if  the  present 
prices  continue,  the  Navy  can  deliver  coal  in  San  Francisco  from 
the  eastern  mines,  at  a  price  including  the  cost  of  the  coal,  of  about 
$6.60  per  ton;  this  by  using  large  colliers  with  no  return  cargo. 
If  commercial  ships  can  be  assured  of  obtaining  suitable  return 
cargo  they  should  be  able  to  deliver  coal  at  a  lower  price.  It  is 
possible  that  these  coals  may  be  bought  in  cargo  lots  at  San 
Francisco  at  as  low  a  price  as  $5.50  per  ton,  and  at  Seattle  at 
prices  but  little  higher.  Should  Alaska  coal  prove  suitable  for 
naval  use  it  will  have  to  meet  whatever  these  prices  may  be;  and 
it  is  probable  that  if  it  can  meet  the  San  Francisco  price,  it  can 
also  meet  the  price  of  the  eastern  coals  delivered  at  Honolulu  and 

Manila. 

The  question  of  the  establishment  of  Alaskan  coal  m  the 
Pacific  markets  is  finally  one  of  cost.     In  a  recent  bulletin  of  the 


310  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Geological  Survey,  a  member  of  this  commission  gives  an  analysis 
of  the  consumption  of  coal  in  Pacific  waters.  This  analysis  would 
tend  to  show  that  despite  the  advances  in  the  use  of  oil  for  fuel 
purposes  there  is  on  the  Pacific  Coast  an  annual  market  for  nearly 
1,500,000  tons  of  coal  at  points  where  competition  by  Alaska  coals 
is  not  impossible;  this  amount  being  considerably  less  than  half 
the  total  present  coal  consumption  of  the  Pacific  Coast  States  and 
Alaska. 

The  principal  objection  to  such  coal  as  has  been  obtained  from 
the  Bering  fields  is  the  low  proportion  of  lump  in  the  product.  A 
development  of  the  fields  may  locate  coals  running  considerably 
higher  in  lump,  but  the  geological  indications  are  such  as  to  give 
little  promise  of  this.  While  this  may  remove  the  coal  from  con- 
sideration as  a  naval  supply  except  in  emergency  cases,  the  high 
percentage  of  slack  does  not  lower  its  value  as  a  coking  coal,  nor  as 
a  steaming  coal  where  forced  draft  is  not  used.  The  statistics  re- 
ferred to  show  that  in  the  Pacific  Coast  States,  about  200,000  tons 
per  annum  are  used  for  coking  purposes  for  which  Alaska  coal 
seems  entirely  suitable,  to  the  exclusion  of  other  Pacific  coals.  It 
seems  suitable  also  to  supply  about  25,000  tons  per  annum  of  black- 
smith coal  which  now  comes  from  Georges  Creek  at  high  freight 
rates. 

The  cost  of  handling  coal  from  an  Alaskan  port  to  Seattle  or 
San  Francisco  would  be  dependent  mainly  on  the  quantity  that 
could  be  sold  in  those  markets.  The  size  of  the  collier,  numbers  of 
them  required  to  handle  the  tonnage,  regularity  and  continuity 
of  service,  would  have  to  be  determined  after  other  factors  now 
unknown  are  fixed,  the  principal  of  which  is  the  price  at  which  the 
Eastern  coal  can  be  laid  down  in  these  markets. 

The  best  information  at  disposal  would  indicate  that  coal  can 
be  mined  in  the  Bering  River  and  Matanuska  fields  at  from  $2 
to  $2.25  per  ton.  In  operations  of  magnitude  these  figures  should 
not  be  exceeded.  If  there  is  a  market  for  500,000  tons  a  year, 
Bering  coal  can  be  delivered  aboard  colliers  at  Cordova  at  about 
$1.42  per  ton.  It  is  estimated  that  a  freight  rate  from  this  point  to 
Seattle  will  be  between  $1  and  $2,  depending  on  the  size  of  collier 
and  regularity  of  service,  and  that  corresponding  figures  for  San 
Francisco  will  be  $1.50  to  $2.50.  With  a  1,000,000-ton  output  the 
lesser  figures  should  be  reached  and  might  be  lowered.  These 
figures  would  indicate  that  coal  from  this  field  has  a  chance  of  ex- 
cluding the  Eastern  coals  from  Pacific  ports  north  of  San  Francisco, 
and  possibly  also  from  that  port,  and  on  account  of  its  superiority 
in  fuel  value  to  coals  from  British  Columbia  and  other  western 
mines  it  should  be  able  to  compete  successfully  with  them. 

There  is  not  much  coal  used  in  Alaska  at  the  present  time,  and 
oil  is  rapidly  supplanting  it.  This,  of  course,  is  due  to  the  high 
cost  of  coals,  most  of  which  are  imported  from  British  Columbia 
mines.  It  is  believed  that  this  condition  would  not  continue  if 
Alaskan  fields  were  opened,  as  the  price  of  oils  is  advancing,  and 
present  prices  of  a  much  inferior  coal  are  excessive. 

The  present  coal  consumption  in  Alaska  is  about  100,000  tons 
a  year,  but  it  is  believed  that  if  the  Bering  River  coal  is  as  good  as 
is  expected  and  if  the  field  is  opened  to  development  and  railroad 
construction   resumed,   an   immediate   local   market  of   considerable 


I 


APPENDIX  311 

size  will  be  created.  Smelters  in  Prince  William  Sound,  local  de- 
mands for  fuel  at  Cordova,  Valdez,  and  the  mines  in  Prince  Wil- 
liam Sound  and  in  the  Kotsina-Chitina  district,  a  supply  for  Alaska 
steamers  and  for  water  shipments  to  other  Alaskan  ports  seem  to 
justify  a  belief  that  150,000  tons  per  annum  would  find  a  ready 
sale  almost  at  once  and  that  with  the  development  of  the  country 
this  local  market  would  grow  rapidly. 

The  situation  as  to  Matanuska  coal  is  not  so  favorable.  The 
haul  to  Seward  is  expensive,  the  cost  of  transportation  and  delivery 
aboard  ship  running  from  $3.38  per  ton  on  a  500,000-ton  output  to 
$2.06  per  ton  on  a  1,000,000-ton  output.  Unless  it  should  develop 
that  the  coal  is  much  better  in  quality  or  that  the  mining  cost  is 
greatly  less,  this  coal  can  not  compete  at  Seward  with  the  Bering 
coal  at  Cordova,  and  it  could  not  hope  to  compete  with  it  in  the 
larger  Pacific  markets,  and  possibly  not  with  the  coals  from  the 
East.  If  both  fields  are  opened  it  seems  evident  that  the  markets 
for  this  coal  would  have  to  be  found  largely  on  the  railroad  itself, 
and  while  these  markets  will  probably  be  ultimately  very  valuable 
they  may  not  hold  out  enough  immediate  prospect  to  justify  exten- 
sive mining  operations. 


312  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 


APPENDIX  III. 


Official  Directory  of  Alaska. 


Governor — John  F.  A.  Strong,  Juneau. 

Secretary  to   the  Governor — William  W.   Shorthill,  Juneau. 
Ex  Officio  Secretary  of  Alaska — Charles  E.  Davidson,  Juneau. 
Delegate    to    Congress — Hon.    James    Wickersham,    Fairbanks, 
Washington,  D.  C. 

UXITED    STATES    SLRVEYOR    GENERAL'S    OFFICE. 

Juneau — Charles  E.  Davidson,  surveyor-general;  George  Stowell, 
chief  clerk;  Martin  George,  chief  draftsman;  Edward  T.  Lindner, 
stenographer  and  typewriter  clerk;  Charles  E.  Naghel,  typewriter 
clerk;    William  Rugg,  draftsman;    Frank  Moon,  messenger. 

United  States  Deputy  Surveyors — A.  G.  Blake,  Nome;  H.  P.  M. 
Birkinbine,  Haines;  Frederick  Butterworth,  Valdez;  M.  O.  Bennett, 
McMurray,  Wash.;  A.  H.  Bradford,  Seattle.  Wash.;  H.  P.  Crowther, 
Juneau;  C.  E.  Davidson,  Fairbanks;  H.  R.  Gabriel,  Seattle,  Wash.; 
C.  S.  Hubbell,  Seattle,  Wash.;  R.  A.  Jackson,  Fairbanks;  A.  M. 
Keating,  Katalla;  A.  G.  Mosier,  Sedro-Woolley,  Wash.;  William 
Muncaster,  Seattle,  Wash.;  L.  C.  Michaelis,  Seattle,  Wash.;  L.  S. 
Robe,  Ruby;  M.  M.  Reese,  Katalla;  L.  D.  Ryus,  Ketchikan;  D.  B. 
Skinner,  Seattle,  Wash.;  L.  W.  Storm,  Valdez;  D.  E.  Stubbs, 
Iditarod;  F.  J.  Wettrick,  Juneau;  F.  W.  Williamson,  Juneau;  Vic- 
tor H.  Wilhelm,  Juneau;  Harold  H.  Waller,  Seattle,  Wash.;  Geo.  C. 
Willey,  Seattle,  Wash. 

United  States  Deputy  Mineral  Surveyors — Banning  Austin, 
Circle  City;  A.  G.  Blake,  Nome;  A.  H.  Bradford,  Seattle,  Wash.; 
K.  P.  M.  Birkinbine,  Haines;  Frederick  Butterworth,  Valdez;  W. 
O.  Bennett,  Seattle,  Wash.;  C.  H.  Ballard,  Seward;  H.  P.  Crowther, 
Juneau;  C.  E.  Davidson,  Fairbanks;  Charles  Estmer,  Iditarod;  W. 
A.  Funk,  Idaho  Falls,  Idaho;  George  Fuerman,  Latouche;  Clinton 
Gurnee,  Oakland,  Cal.;  H.  R.  Gabriel,  Seattle,  Wash.;  W.  A.  Hesse, 
Seward;  C.  S.  Hubbell,  Seattle,  Wash.;  Udo  Hesse,  Seattle,  Wash.; 
Daniel  H.  Jones,  Nome;  George  S.  Lewis,  Fairbanks;  J.  L.  Mc- 
Pherson,  Seattle,  Wash.;  A.  G.  Mosier,  Sedro-Woolley,  Wash.;  O.  A. 
Nelson,  Chitina;  L.  D.  Ryus,  Ketchikan;  L.  S.  Robe,  Ruby;  M.  M. 
Reese,  Katalla;  Otto  D.  Rohlfs,  Seattle,  Wash.;  I.  M.  Reed,  Nome; 
L.  W.  Storm,  Valdez;  R.  J.  Sommers,  Nome;  D.  E.  Stubbs,  Idita- 
rod; Richard  Smith,  Nome;  B.  D.  Stewart,  Juneau;  C.  R.  Turner, 
Maiden,  Mass.;  N.  C.  Titus,  Wenatchee,  Wash.;  J.  P.  WTiittren, 
Nome;  F.  J.  Wettrick,  Juneau;  E.  Fred  Wann,  Portland,  Ore.; 
Victor  H.  Wilhelm,  Juneau;  F.  W.  Williamson,  Juneau;  R.  F. 
Whittham,  Tacoma.  Wash.;   Harold  H.  Waller,  Seattle,  Wash. 

UNITED     STATES     CITSTOIIS     OFFICIALS. 

Juneau — J.  R.  Willis,  collector;  C.  D.  Garfield,  special  deputy 
collector;  J.  F.  Pugh,  deputy  collector  and  inspector;  George  M. 
Simpkins,  deputy  collector  and  inspector:  S.  Irvine  Stone,  deputy 
collector  and  inspector  (stationed  at  Kodiak)  ;  W.  A.  McNeiley, 
deputy  collector  and  inspector  (stationed  at  Seward) ;  E.  A.  Ras- 
mussen,    deputy    collector    and    inspector     (stationed  at  Yakutat) ; 


APPENDIX  313 

George  Barron,  deputy  collector  and  inspector  (stationed  at  Sitka) ; 
Darrell  A.  Meek,  stenographer  and  typewriter. 

Ketchikan — Milson  S.  Dobbs,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  M.  S. 
Whittier,  deputy  collector  and  inspector;  James  Millar,  deputy  col- 
lector and  inspector  (navigation  season);  August  Detlefson,  deputy 
collector  and  inspector  (navigation  season). 

Wrangell — F.  E.  Bronson,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  L.  M. 
Churchill,  deputy  collector  and  inspector   (navigation  season). 

Skagway — Fred  J.  Vandewall,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  G. 
G.  Miller,  deputy  collector  and  inspector;  Albert  C.  Latham, 
deputy  collector  and  inspector  (navigation  season). 

Eagle — J.  J.  Hillard,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  O.  F.  Horn, 
deputy  collector  and  inspector  (navigation  season);  John  E.  Ol- 
son, deputy  collector  and  inspector  (navigation  season). 

Forty  Mile — John  L.  Abrams,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  John 
Elden,  deputy  collector  and  inspector. 

St.  Michael — Edwin  R.  Stivers,  deputy  collector  in  charge. 

Nome — R.  W.  J.  Reed,  deputy  collector  in  charge;  F.  W.  But- 
ters, deputy  collector  and  inspector   (navigation  season). 

Unalaska — N.  E.  Bolshanin,  deputy  collector  in  charge. 

Cordova — George  W.  Woodruff,  deputy  collector  in  charge; 
Charles  B.  Smith,  deputy  collector  and  inspector  (stationed  at 
Valdez). 

Sulzer — Charles  A.  Sulzer,  deputy  collector  in  charge. 

Fairbanks — No  permanent  officer  in  charge;  position  filled  by 
detail  from  Eagle. 

UNITED  STATES  COURTS. 

Division  No.  1 — Judge,  Robert  W.  Jennings,  Juneau;  court 
stenographer,  S.  H.  Milwee,  Juneau;  clerk  of  court,  Jay  W.  Bell, 
Juneau;  deputy  clerks,  Harry  Malone,  John  J  Clarke,  C.  Z.  Denny, 
Juneau;  E.  S.  Stackpole,  Ketchikan;  Martin  Conway,  Skagway. 
United  States  Marshal,  H.  L.  Faulkner,  Juneau;  chief  deputy,  J. 
F.  Mullen,  Juneau;  deputy  United  States  marshals,  Hector  McLean, 
Juneau;  "William  Fels,  Douglas;  Fred  Fonzo,  Skagway;  W.  S.  Hard- 
ing, Haines;  T.  S.  Elsemore,  Petersburg;  William  F.  Schnabel, 
Wrangell;  W.  D.  MacMillan,  Craig;  John  Goodell,  Sitka;  J.  H. 
Davies,  Ketchikan.  United  States  Attorney,  John  Rustgard,  Juneau; 
assistant  United  States  attorneys,  H.  H.  Folsom,  Juneau:  Roy  V. 
Nye,  Ketchikan;  clerk  to  United  States  Attorney,  (Miss)  Ina  S. 
Liebhardt,  Juneau.  United  States  Commissioners,  John  B.  Mar- 
shall, Juneau;  R.  W.  de  Armond,  Sitka;  Martin  Conway,  Skagway; 
W.  G.  Thomas,  Wrangell;  Carl  Spuhn,  Killisnoo;  Edward  S.  Stack- 
pole,  Ketchikan;  J.  E.  Rivard,  Petersburg;  U.  S.  Rush,  Kasaan; 
William  G.  Pigg,  Sulzer;  Charles  A.  Fox,  Craig;  R.  M.  Odell,  Haines; 
E.  A.  Rasmuson,  Yakutat. 

Division  No.  2 — Judge,  John  R.  Tucker,  Nome;  court  steno- 
grapher, (Mrs.)  C.  J.  Nunne,  Nome;  clerk  of  court,  John  Sundback, 
Nome;  deputy  clerks,  J.  Alison  Bruner,  Nome;  Charles  A.  Traeger, 
St.  Michael.  United  States  Marshal,  Emmet  R.  Jordan,  Nome;  chief 
deputy,  Louis  M.  Koster,  Nome;  deputy  United  States  Marshals, 
Adrian  B.  Miller,  Henry  H.  Darrah,  Elmer  Reed,  Claude  Scott, 
Nome;  Hugh  J.  Lee,  St.  Michael;  C.  O.  Lovell,  Council;  John  Rior- 
dan,  Teller;  Robert  H.  Humber,  Candle;  Clarence  H.  Hawkins,  Kiana. 
United  States  Attorney,  F.  M.  Saxton,  Nome;  clerk  to  United  States 


314  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

Attorney,  L.  S.  Kerr,  Nome.  United  States  Commissioners,  George 
D.  Schofield,  Nome;  G.  A.  Adams,  Council;  Frank  H.  Thomas, 
Shelton;  Charles  A.  Traeger,  St.  Michael;  Joseph  H.  Wood,  Teller; 
Porter  J.  Coston,  Candle;  J.  W.  Southward,  Kiana;  John  B.  Ross, 
Solomon;  Milton  L.  White,  Kotzebue;  Delbert  W.  Cram,  Barrow; 
J.  Wilson  Reed,  Bethel;  Ralph  W.  Dempwolf  (on  board  U.  S. 
Revenue  Cutter  Bear),  Nome. 

Division  No.  3. — Judge,  Fred  M.  Brown,  Valdez;  court  steno- 
grapher, Isaac  Hamburger,  Valdez;  clerk  of  court,  Arthur  Lang, 
Valdez;  deputy  clerks,  Thomas  S.  Scott,  Charles  A.  Hand,  K.  L. 
Monohan,  Valdez.  United  States  Marshal,  F.  R.  Brenneman,  Val- 
dez; chief  deputy,  J.  H.  D.  Bouse,  Valdez;  deputy  United  States 
Marshals,  A.  C.  Bowling,  A.  F.  Sullivan,  H.  C.  de  Line,  Valdez; 
James  Wardell,  Katalla;  S.  T.  Brightwell,  Cordova;  W.  E.  Wood, 
Chitina;  Isaac  Evans,  Seward;  H.  R.  Brown,  Knik;  Karl  Arm- 
strong, Kodiak;  Z.  S.  Moore,  Unga;  W.  B.  Hastings,  Unalaska;  Nels 
Sorby,  Dillingham;  Sidney  D.  Charles,  McCarthy.  United  States 
Attorney,  George  R.  Walker,  Valdez;  assistant  United  States  At- 
torneys, Guy  B.  Brubaker,  Valdez;  William  H.  Whittlesey,  Seward; 
clerk  to  United  States  Attorney,  Frank  J.  Hayes,  Valdez.  United 
States  Commissioners,  A.  Garriock,  Nahnek;  Robert  D.  Gray,  Ka- 
talla; John  H.  Brownlow,  Kenai;  Leopold  David,  Knik;  L.  A. 
Jones,  Copper  Center;  A.  J.  Adams,  Cordova;  F.  C.  Driffield,  Unga; 
Lee  Van  Slyke,  Susitna;  Thomas  W.  Hanmore,  Uiamna;  George 
J.  Love,  Valdez;  L.  S.  French,  Dillingham;  S.  Irvine  Stone,  Kodiak; 
M.  J.  Conroy,  Seward;  Paul  d'Hierry,  Chitina;  A.  J.  Diamond, 
Wiley;    Robert  D.  Scott,  Unalaska. 

Division  No.  4 — Judge,  Frederic  E.  Fuller,  Fairbanks;  court 
stenographer,  E.  T.  Wolcott,  Fairbanks;  clerk  of  court,  Angus  Me- 
Bride,  Fairbanks;  deputy  clerks,  C.  C.  Page,  P.  R.  Wagner,  Fair- 
banks; George  W.  Albrecht,  Iditarod;  Gilbert  Nairn,  Ruby;  assist- 
ant clerks,  Estelle  Fitts,  C.  C.  Held,  C.  D.  Leckie,  Fairbanks. 
United  States  Marshal,  Lewis  T.  Erwin,  Fairbanks;  chief  deputy, 
J.  E.  Clark,  Fairbanks;  deputy  United  States  Marshals,  J.  B.  Math- 
ews, M.  O.  Carlson,  W.  W.  Fife,  J.  H.  Miller,  May  C.  Peterson,  Fair- 
banks; Percy  G.  Charles,  Iditarod;  C.  L.  Vawter,  Tanana;  John 
B.  Powers,  Eagle;  H.  H.  Wendling,  Georgetown;  A.  H.  Conlin, 
Flat  City;  T.  H.  Long,  Ruby;  George  Berg,  Nulato;  E.  D.  Heppen- 
stall,  Wiseman;  J.  L.  Anders,  Hot  Springs;  C.  T.  Spencer,  Circle; 
John  C.  Wood,  Tanana;  H.  P.  Shepherd.  Ophir;  United  States  At- 
torney, James  J.  Crossley,  Fairbanks;  assistant  United  States  At- 
torneys, Louis  R.  Gillette,  Bion  A.  Dodge,  Fairbanks;  clerk,  Mar- 
garet N.  Canovan,  Fairbanks;  United  States  Commissioners,  John 
F.  Dillon,  Fairbanks;  Samuel  R.  Weiss,  Chatanika;  William  J. 
Fitzpatrick,  Chena;  Frank  A.  Reynolds,  Circle;  W.  R.  Taylor, 
Glacier;  John  A.  Kemp,  Steel  Creek;  U.  G.  Myers,  Eagle;  Gilbert 
Nairn,  Ruby;  A.  J.  Griffin,  Richardson;  Wilbur  F.  Green,  Tacotna; 
Frank  E.  Howard.  Wiseman;  E.  J.  Steir,  Georgetown;  L.  E.  Riven- 
burg,  Rampart;  J.  E.  Coffer,  Hot  Springs;  George  W.  Albrecht, 
Iditarod;  W.  A.  Vinal,  Ophir;  S.  J.  Marsh,  Caro;  J.  C.  Dehn, 
Tanana;  Charles  E.  Taylor,  Flat  City;  Hanson  Berg,  Russian  Mis- 
sion; Wade  Baker,  Fox  City;  Omer  S.  Riley,  Tofty;  H.  W.  Strang- 
man,  Nulato;  Karl  Theile,  Otter. 


APPENDIX  315 

UNITED    STATES    LAND    OFFICE. 

Division  No.  1 — C.  B.  Walker,  register,  Juneau;  Frank  A. 
Boyle,  receiver,  Juneau. 

Division  No.  2 — John  Sundback,  ex  officio  register,  Nome;  Em- 
met R.  Jordan,  ex  officio  receiver,  Nome. 

Division  No.  3 — Included  in  Division  No.  1. 

Division  No.  4 — Angus  McBride,  ex  officio  register,  Fairbanks; 
Lewis  T.  Erwin,  ex  officio  receiver,  Fairbanks. 

DEPARTMENT    OF    AGRICULTURE. 

C.  C.  Georgeson,  special  agent  in  charge  of  Alaska  investiga- 
tions, Sitka;  A.  J.  Wilkus,  assistant,  Sitka;  G.  W.  Gasser,  assist- 
ant, Rampart;  M.  D.  Snodgrass,  assistant,  Kodiak;  Laurence  Kel- 
ly, assistant  dairyman,  Kodiak;  J.  W.  Neal,  assistant,  Fairbanks. 

EDUCATION. 

J.  F.  A.  Strong,  ex  officio  superintendent  of  public  instruction 
for  white  schools,  Juneau. 

NATIVE   SCHOOLS. 

p.  p.  Claxton,  Commissioner  of  Education,  Washington,  D.  C; 
W.  T.  Lopp,  superintendent  of  education  of  natives  of  Alaska, 
Washington,  D.  C,  and  Seattle,  Wash.;  H.  C.  Sinclair,  supply 
agent,  A.  H.  Quarless,  disbursing  agent,  Seattle,  Wash.;  W.  G. 
Beattie,  superintendent  southeastern  district,  Juneau;  H.  O.  Schal- 
eben,  M.  D.,  superintendent  southwestern  division,  Seward;  A.  N. 
Evans,  superintendent  western  division,  Unalakleet;  W.  C.  Shields, 
superintendent  northwestern  division,  Nome;  George  E.  Boulter, 
superintendent  upper  Yukon  district,  Tanana. 

Physicians — Emil  Krulish,  passed  assistant  surgeon,  Public 
Health  Service  (on  special  detail),  Juneau;  P.  J.  Mahone,  Juneau; 
W.  W.  Council,  Cordova;  James  A.  Payzant,  Chitina;  H.  O.  Schale- 
ben,  Seward;  Ovid  B.  Orr,  Ahkiok;  L.  H.  French,  Nushagak;  D.  S. 
Neuman,  Nome;  W.  L.  Barbour,  Kotzebue;  J.  W.  Reed,  Gambell; 
Bruce  H.  Brown,  Nulato. 

INTERNAL    REVENUE. 

Edgar  C.  Raine,  deputy  collector,  Nome;  George  Hutchinson, 
deputy  collector,  Fairbanks. 

IMMIGRATION    SERVICE. 

Domianus  Maskeviczius,  inspector  in  charge,  Ketchikan;  Al- 
bert H.  Joy,  inspector,  Ketchikan. 

FEDERAL    MINE    INSPECTION. 

Sumner  S.  Smith,  inspector  for  Alaska,  Juneau. 

BUREAU    OF    FISHERIES. 

H.  O.  Smith,  agent,  Alaska  salmon  fisheries,  Juneau;  Ward  T. 
Bower,  assistant  agent,  San  Francisco,  Cal.;  H.  C.  Fassett,  as- 
sistant agent;  E.  M.  Ball,  inspector;  assistant  seal  agents,  Alex- 
ander H.  Proctor,  Philip  R.  E.  Hatton;  naturalist,  seal  islands,  F. 
M.  Chamberlain;  fur  warden,  Harry  J.  Christoffers;  deputy  ward- 
ens, Claude  J.  Roach,  Ernest  P.  Walker,  Logan  L  Evans,  Fred  H. 
Gray. 


316  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

STEAMBOAT-INSPECTIOX    SERVICE. 

George  H.  Whitney,  inspector  of  hulls,  Juneau;  Thomas  E. 
Kell,  inspector  of  boilers,  Juneau;  George  W.  Folta,  clerk,  Juneau; 
Thomas  P.  Deering,  inspector  of  hulls,  St.  Michael;  Carl  F.  Leh- 
ners,  inspector  of  boilers,  St.  Michael;  Jerome  A.  Desio,  clerk,  St. 
Michael. 

LIGHTHOUSE    SERVICE.    SIXTEENTH    DISTRICT. 

Walter  C.  Dibrell,  inspector,  Ketchikan;  Mile  Hoadley,  sup- 
erintendent, Ketchikan;  Albert  B.  Edwards,  chief  clerk,  Ketchikan; 
W.  K.  Spaulding,  J.  F.  Warder,  clerks,  Ketchikan;  Arthur  J.  Ela, 
aid,  Ketchikan;   Rolf  Fossness,  depot  keeper,  Ketchikan. 

FOREST    SERVICE. 

Tongass  National  Forest — W.  G.  Weigle,  forest  supervisor, 
Ketchikan;  S.  S.  Swenning,  deputy  forest  supervisor,  Ketchikan; 
W.  H.  Babbitt,  deputy  forest  supervisor,  Craig;  Bruce  E.  Hoffman, 
forest  examiner,  Ketchikan;  F.  A.  Johnson,  special  fiscal  agent, 
Ketchikan;  Roy  Barto,  forest  ranger,  Ketchikan;  James  Allen, 
forest  ranger,  Petersburg;  George  H.  Peterson,  forest  ranger,  Sitka; 
Ethel  S.  Cotter,  clerk,  Ketchikan. 

Chugach  National  Forest — T.  M.  Hunt,  deputy  forest  super- 
visor, Cordova;  H.  W.  Fisk,  forest  ranger,  Katalla;  L.  Keith  Mc- 
Cullagh,  assistant  forest  ranger,  Kenai;  Jack  Brown,  forest  guard, 
Knik;   Elaine  M.  Hunt,  clerk,  Cordova. 

GAME     WARDENS. 

Adam  Schneider,  Juneau;  J.  A.  Baughman,  Seward;  Aron 
Ericson,  Roosevelt  (Kenai  Peninsula) ;  Andrew  Hoey,  Fairbanks; 
Robert   S.   McDonald,   Fairbanks;    Christian   L.   Larson,   Chicken. 


LOCAL   OFFICERS. 

Members  of  the  Legislature  of  the  Territory  of  Alaska 
First  Session,  1913. 

SENATE. 

L.  V.  Ray,  president;  A.  E.  Light,  chief  clerk.  Elwood  Bruner, 
Second  District,  term  expires  1916,  Nome.  Conrad  Freeding,  Sec- 
ond District,  term  expires  1914,  Nome.  B.  F.  Millard,  Third  Dis- 
trict, term  expires  1916,  Valdez.  Henry  Roden,  Fourth  District, 
term  expires  1914,  Iditarod.  D.  A.  Sutherland,  Fourth  District, 
term  expires  1916,  Ruby.  J.  M.  Tanner,  First  District,  term  ex- 
pires 1916,  Skagway.  H.  T.  Tripp,  First  District,  term  expires  1914, 
Juneau.     L.  V.  Ray,  Third  District,  term  expires  1914,  Seward. 

HOUSE    OF    REPRESENTATIVES. 

Earnest  B.  Collins,  speaker;  Barry  Keown,  chief  clerk.  Frank 
A.  Aldrich,  Second  District,  Nome;  W.  T.  Burns,  Fourth  District, 
Little  Eldorado  Creek;  Frank  M.  Boyle,  Third  District,  Valdez; 
Earnest  B.  Collins,  Fourth  District,  Fox;  Dan  Driscoll,  Fourth  Dis- 
trict, Fairbanks;  Thos.  Gaffney,  Second  District,  Nome;  Robert  D. 
Gray,  Third  District,  Katalla;  Chas.  E.  Ingersoll,  First  District, 
Ketchikan;  H.  B.  Ingram,  Third  District,  Valdez;  Charles  Daven- 
port Jones,  Second  District,  Nome;  Milo  Kelly,  Third  District, 
Knik;  J.  C.  Kennedy,  Second  District,  Candle;  Arthur  Glenden- 
ning  Shoup,  First  District,  Sitka;  Wm.  Stubbins,  First  District, 
Douglas;  N.  J.  Svindseth,  First  District,  Wrangell. 


APPENDIX  317 

OFFICIALS    AND    BOARDS    AUTHORIZED    BY    TERRITORIAL 
LEGISLATURE. 


TERRITORIAL   TREASURY. 

Walstein  G.  Smith,  treasurer,  Juneau. 

MINE    INSPECTION. 

William  Maloney,  inspector,  Fairbanks. 

PUBLIC    HEALTH. 

Governor  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  ex  officio  commissioner  of  health, 
Juneau;  assistant  health  commissioners,  S.  C.  Shurick,  Division 
No  1  Wrangell;  W.  D'Arcy  Chace,  Division  No.  2,  Nome;  W.  H. 
Chase',  Division  No.  3,  Cordova;  M.  F.  Hall,  Division  No.  4,  Fair- 
banks. 

VITAL    STATISTICS. 

Charles  E.  Davidson,  registrar,  Juneau. 

TERRITORIAL  BANKING   BOARD. 

Governor  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  president,  Juneau;  Walstein  G. 
Smith,  secretary,  Juneau;   Charles  E.  Davidson,  Juneau. 

BOARD   OF   COMMISSIONERS   FOR  PROMOTION   OF  UNIFORM   LEGISLATION. 

Royal  A  Gunnison,  president,  Juneau;  George  B.  Grigsby,  Nome; 
Fred  M.  Brown,  Valdez;  Bertha  F.  Back,  secretary,  Juneau. 

BOARD    OF     MEDICAL    EXAMINERS. 

I  H  Moore,  president.  Ruby;  H.  C.  De  Vighne,  secretary- 
treasurer  Juneau;  J.  L.  Myers,  Ketchikan;  J.  H.  Mustard,  J.  M. 
Sloan  Nome;  Charles  A.  Winans,  Valdez;  J.  H.  Romig,  Seward; 
J.  A.  Sutherland,  Fairbanks. 

BOARD   OF   DENTAL   EXAMINERS. 

W.  E.  Zuber,  president,  Ketchikan;  G.  C.  Maule,  secretary- 
treasurer,  Douglas;  L.  W.  Fromm,  Nome;  C.  L.  Hale,  Cordova. 
Robert  R.  Myers,  Fairbanks. 

BOARD    OF    PHARMACY. 

William    Britt,    president,    Juneau;    William   H.    Caswell    vice 
nresident    Valdez;    Floyd   B.   Ryus,   secretary-treasurer,   Ketchikan 
William  B.  Kirk!  Nomef  William  Ramsey,  Council;  Edward  V.  Boyle. 
Cordo^;  Frank  M.  Dunham,  Ralph  T.  Kubon,  Fairbanks. 

BOARDS     OF     CHILDREN'S     GUARDIANS. 

(Under  juvenile  court  act,  providing  for  a  board  in  each  judi- 
cial division.)  Juneau;  John  Rustgard, 
VnnTsZes^tt-^Z':  JuSe^auT  H.  L.  Faulkner,  United  States 
'^^"ri.r r  2-Mrs.  Joseph  F.Plem  Nome  F.  M^  Sax^on 
United  States  Attorney,  Nome;  E.  R.  Jordan,  United  States  Mar 
shal,  Nome.  ^  ^^^  George  R.  Walk- 
er. UniTeTsta^'ti  iTtorney^Tdez^;"  F.  R.  Brenneman,  United  States 
Marshal,  Valdez  Fairbanks;  James  J 
Crosry'Tnifed  iTZ\^X,  Fairbanks;  L.  T.  Erwin,  United 
States  Marshal,  Fairbanks. 


318  ALASKA;  ITS  MEANING  TO  THE  WORLD 

BOARD    OF    TRUSTEES,    SITKA    PIONEERS'    HOME. 

Governor  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  president,  Juneau;  Sergius  George 
Kostrometinoff,  secretary;  W.  P.  Mills,  treasurer,  Sitka;  Arthur 
G.  Shoup,  superintendent  of  home,  Sitka. 

BOARD    FOR    RELIEF   OF    DESTITUTION. 

Governor  J.  F.  A.  Strong,  superintendent,  Juneau. 

ADVISORY    BOARDS. 

Division  No.  1 — John  Rustgard,  United  States  Attorney,  Juneau; 
H.  L.  Faulkner,  United  States  Marshal,  Juneau. 

Division  No.  2 — F.  M.  Saxton,  United  States  Attorney,  Nome; 
E.  R.  Jordan,  United  States  Marshal,  Nome. 

Division  No.  3 — George  R.  Walker,  United  States  Attorney,  Val- 
dez;  F.  R.  Brenneman,  United  States  Marshal,  Valdez. 

Division  No.  4 — James  J.  Grossley,  United  States  Attorney, 
Fairbanks;   L.  T.  Erwin,  United  States  Marshal,  Fairbanks. 


NEVFSPAPERS     IX     ALASKA. 

Chitina — The  Chitina  Leader   (weekly). 

Cordova — Cordova  Daily  Alaskan;  The  Alaska  Times  (weekly). 

Douglas — Douglas  Island  News    (weekly). 

Fairbanks — The  Alaska  Citizen  (weekly).  Fairbanks  Times 
(daily  and  weekly).  Fairbanks  Daily  News-Miner  and  Tanana 
Tribune. 

Iditarod — Iditarod  Pioneer    (weekly). 

Juneau — Alaska  Dispatch  (daily  and  weekly).  Alaska  Daily 
Empire. 

Ketchikan — Ketchikan  Miner  (daily  and  weekly).  The  Morn- 
ing Mail   (daily). 

Kodiak — Orphanage   News   Letter    (monthly). 

Nome — The  Nome  Daily  Nugget.  Nome  Industrial  Workers 
(daily). 

Petersburg — The  Progressive   (weekly). 

Ruby — The  Ruby  Record-Citizen    (weekly). 

Seward — Seward  Gateway    (daily  and  weekly). 

Sitka — The  Thlinget   (monthly). 

Skagway — The  Daily  Alaskan. 

Tanana — The  Tanana  News   (weekly). 

Yaldez — The  Daily  Prospector.  The  Valdez  Miner  (weekly).  The 
Commoner   (weekly). 

Wrangell — The  Wrangell   Sentinel    (weekly). 


I 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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